Akinobu Mayumi

Akinobu Mayumi (真弓 明信) (Joe)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Yanagawa Commercial High School

• Born July 12, 1953 in Tamana-gun, Kumamoto Japan

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Biographical Information

Akinobu Mayumi was a 9-time All-Star in Nippon Pro Baseball who could hit for power, hit for contact and steal bases.

Early Career

Mayumi played for Den Den Kyushu in the industrial leagues. In 1972, and he was drafted by the Taiheiyo Club Lions in the third round of the 1972 NPB draft; the scout was Yoshimasa Takesue. They assigned him to their US-based farm club, the Lodi Lions. Americans had a hard time pronouncing his name, so one of his Japanese coaches nicknamed him Joe based off a comic strip "Ashita no Joe." Mostly used at third base, the youngster only hit .183/.266/.197 in 25 games for Lodi. He did not bat in two games for Taiheiyo that year. In 1974, Mayumi was 2 for 10 with 4 runs in 23 games. He was a regularly used bench player in 1975 and started to show promise with a batting line of .311/.364/.393 in 68 plate appearances. He was just 4 for 36 with a walk, a double and no steals in 1976 and his career did not look so promising.

In 1977, Akinobu won a regular role and hit .261/.285/.366 with 21 steals in 29 tries. Mayumi became a star in 1978; he batted .280/.314/.383 and swiped 34 bases in 39 tries. He made the Best Nine as the circuit's top shortstop and made the Pacific League All-Star team; he went 1-for-6 in the 1978 NPB All-Star Game. He ranked 3rd in steals in the Pacific League, behind Yutaka Fukumoto and Koji Minoda. Mayumi got his big break that off-season when he was traded with Masashi Takenouchi, Masafumi Takeda and Yoshiharu Wakana to the Hanshin Tigers for star slugger Koichi Tabuchi and Kenji Furusawa. The move was part of an attempt by Don Blasingame to make the Tigers more of a small-ball team. Mayumi became a key component as the leadoff man in the attack. He would be at the top of the Hanshin batting order from 1979-1989.

In 1979, Mayumi hit .275/.321/.391. On May 20, he hit for the cycle. He stole 20 bases but was caught 14 times and began to show some pop with 13 homers but it was not up to Tabuchi's level of production for Hanshin. He ranked 3rd in steals in the Central League (between Kazumasa Kono and John Scott) and 6th in hits (142, between Tatsuhiko Kimata and Morimichi Takagi). Akinobu really turned it up a notch in 1980, batting .285/.343/.525 with 29 homers and 20 steals (in 25 tries). He homered leading off both parts of a doubleheader on October 12, and he tied Scott for 3rd in steals and Roy White for 5th in homers. He also made the All-Star team, and he was 2-for-6 with a steal in the 1980 NPB All-Star Games. Yoshihiko Takahashi beat him out for the Best Nine nod at shortstop.

"Joe" hit .273/.335/.408 and swiped 26 bases in 33 tries in 1981 in Japanese Baseball, and he was 4th in steals (between Kono and White). Mayumi also attended the 1981 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 1-for-6 with a steal. The next year, the infielder batted .293/.328/.429 with 15 homers, but stole 11 bases. He was again an All-Star selection, and he had a 2-for-4 record in first two games then collected 3 hits in Game 3. Mayumi failed to make the CL All-Star squad in 1983 but had a great year nonetheless, hitting .353/.402/.569 with 23 home runs. He won the batting title by 16 points over Tsutomu Wakamatsu and made the Best Nine at second base. He also ranked 2nd in hits (158, 3 behind Yasushi Tao) and 10th in steals (13, tied with Kiyoshi Nakahata). In 1984, Akinobu posted a batting line of .286/.344/.549, showing a significant decline in average but popping 27 homers. He stole 15 bases in 18 tries; it would be his last time with double-digit steals as his game was now revolving more around power than speed. He was 10th in homers (tied with Tatsunori Hara and Randy Bass) and 8th in steals (between Haruki Yoshitake and Hirokazu Kato).

Mayumi set the table for Hanshin's Japan Series-bound club in 1985, batting in front of sluggers like Akinobu Okada, Bass and Masayuki Kakefu. He hit .322/.392/.600 with career highs in doubles (32), homers (34), runs (108) and RBI (84). He made his first All-Star team since 1982, and he was 2-for-10 in the 1985 NPB All-Star Game. Mayumi set a NPB record for homers by a leadoff man, and 17 years later Kazuo Matsui would break his mark. He led the CL in runs as well, and he was 5th in batting (between Ryuzo Yamasaki and Yutaka Takagi), 3rd in hits (160, between Tadashi Matsumoto and Yamsaki), 6th in homers (tied with Toru Sugiura and Hara) and 8th in RBI (between Masaru Uno and Sachio Kinugasa). He made the Best Nine at his third different position, this time being chosen as an outfielder. Mayumi was the second player in NPB history to accomplish it, following Hiromitsu Ochiai. He dazzled in the 1985 Japan Series, hitting .360/.407/.760 with 4 doubles, 2 homers and 8 runs in 6 games; only Bass outperformed him as Hanshin won its first title.

Mayumi hit .307/.362/.539 with 28 homers in 1986 and stole 9 bases in 10 tries. He was 7th in the CL in average (between Takagi and Seiji Kamikawa), 3rd in hits (157, tied with Yoshihiko Takahashi) and 6th in homers (between Leon Lee and Carlos Ponce). He made his 6th All-Star team, but he was hitless in 6 at-bats in the 1986 NPB All-Star Games. In 1987, the veteran batted .270/.334/.466 with 23 homers, his 6th and last season with 20+ homers. He was again selected as an All-Star, and he was 2-for-8 in the 1987 NPB All-Star Games. He became the 52nd player in NPB history to sock 200 career homers.

During 1988, Mayumi's batting line was .270/.314/.412 and was picked as an All-Star for the 8th time; he was 0-for-5 in the 1988 NPB All-Star Game. He ranked 10th in RBI with 67, between Takehiko Kobayakawa and Kazunori Shinozuka. In a part-time role in 1989, the veteran slumped to .247/.328/.455 with 16 homers in 279 AB. It was his last season as Hanshin's regular leadoff hitter. Mayumi hit .304/.369/.551 with 17 long balls in 247 AB in 1990, making the most of his part-time status. In 1991, Akinobu batted .267/.335/.476 with 17 homers and 61 RBI in 288 AB. He made his final All-Star team, and he was 0-for-4 in the 1991 NPB All-Star Game.

In 1992, Mayumi saw a further decline in playing time and hit .208/.248/.257 in 109 plate appearances. A year later, the 39/40-year-old went 14 for 63 with 2 homers. 1994 saw a rejuvenated Mayumi bat .270/.329/.413 in 65 games. He had 30 pinch-hit RBI, breaking the old NPB record by six, and also hit his second career pinch-hit grand slam. Mayumi went 6 for 27 with 4 walks and 9 strikeouts in 1995 to end his playing career. He wanted to continue playing but recurring leg problems dissuaded teams from signing him and he retired after 23 seasons in Japan. Mayumi was an announcer for Asahi TV, Sun TV and Nikkan Sports. He was the batting coach for the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 2000 to 2004. Mayumi was announced as the new Hanshin manager in October 2008, replacing former teammate Akinobu Okada. He went 213-206-13 from 2009 to 2011, finishing second in 2010, but was still canned. He was replaced by Yutaka Wada.

Overall, Mayumi hit .285/.338/.466 in 2,051 games in NPB. He had 957 runs, 1,888 hits, 266 doubles, 292 homers, 886 RBI and 200 steals (in 273 tries). He had 41 homers leading off games, second all-time in NPB to Yutaka Fukumoto's 43. As of 2025, he was 57th in runs (between Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Masahiro Araki), 67th in hits (between Matsunaka and Kimata), 50th in homers (between Tomonori Maeda and Yoshihiro Maru), 75th in RBI, 78th in steals (tied with Toshinori Yasui, Shigeru Takada and Koji Chikamoto) and 74th in batting (between Masayasu Kaneda and Tomoaki Kanemoto).

Source

• Wiki Japan
• Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland