Akira Tanaka (01)

Akira Tanaka (田中 章)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 140 lb.

• High School Chiba Keizai High School

• Born July 20, 1944 in Kisarazu, Chiba Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Akira Tanaka pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for nine seasons.

Tanaka was on the Japanese national team that won the 1967 Asian Championship. He was picked by the Yomiuri Giants in the second round of the 1968 NPB draft. He was 3-3 with a 2.95 ERA, .213 opponent average and .98 WHIP in 1969. He was not used in the 1969 Japan Series, which Yomiuri won. He went 1-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 20 relief outings in 1970 and again did not appear in a victorious Yomiuri effort in the 1970 Japan Series. The Giants traded him along with Akira Takahashi and Kunizo Umeda to the Nishitetsu Lions for Isao Hirono and Takashi Hamamura in the off-season. He was 4-9 with a 4.17 ERA in 1971.

The Chiba native improved to 3-5 with a 2.39 ERA in 57 games in 1972, and he was 3rd in the Pacific League in ERA (between Toshio Kanbe and Michiro Sato) and 2nd in appearances (7 behind Sato). He made the PL All-Star team for the only time in 1973, and he allowed 2 runs in 1 1/3 innings in the 1973 NPB All-Star Game 1. He completed a shutout inning in Game 3, and he got the win over Takeshi Yasuda. Tanaka finished 11-10 with a 2.57 ERA, and he was second in the league in ERA (.11 behind Tetsuya Yoneda) and 4th in appearances (52, tied with Fumio Narita).

The right-hander went 12-5 with 9 saves (a new stat in Japan) and a 2.61 ERA in 1974, his last good year, walking only 26 in 131 innings. He ranked third in ERA behind Michio Sato and Kanbe, and he tied Hajime Kato, Choji Murata, Satoshi Niimi and Keishi Suzuki for 5th in wins. Tanaka fell to 2-4, 4.00 in 1975. He then spent his final two seasons with the Taiyo Whales. In 1976, he surrendered 16 runs (14 earned) in 16 2/3 innings. He allowed four hits and one run in two innings in 1977.

Overall, Akira went 36-36 with a 3.10 ERA, .252 opponent average and 1.18 WHIP in 300 games (27 starts) in NPB. He struck out 330 and walked 179 in 737 1/3 innings. He hit .196/.218/.275.

Original source was the now-defunct japanbaseballdaily.com site with later minor edits based off Wiki Japan