Genichi Murata

Genichi Murata (村田 元一)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 147 lb.
• High School Meiji High School

• Born April 10, 1938 in Suginami, Tokyo Japan

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Biographical Information

Diminutive right-handed pitcher Genichi Murata played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 seasons. All of his career was with the Kokutetsu Swallows of the Central League, who became the Sankei Swallows in 1965 and are the ancestors of today's Yakult Swallows.

Murata signed with the Swallows in 1957, and he only pitched one game in his first season. He joined their rotation in 1958, and he went 15-22 with a 2.93 ERA that season. Murata led the league in appearances (62), starts (41), balks (2) and runs allowed (123), and he was 6th in wins (tied with Takashi Suzuki), 2nd in losses (1 behind Noboru Akiyama), 6th in complete games (13, tied with Toshitake Nakayama) and 8th in strikeouts (178, between Nakayama and Shigeru Sugishita). He was also selected into the 1958 NPB All-Star Game, and he allowed a run in 2 innings in Game 2. Murata is remembered for giving up the first homer of Sadaharu Oh's career. It came in the 7th inning of a game against Oh's Yomiuri Giants on April 26, 1959, breaking a scoreless tie. He ended up 9-11 with a 3.45 ERA that season.

The Tokyo native bounced back in 1960, and he pitched a shutout inning in the 1960 NPB All-Star Game 1. He was the CL's starter in Game 3, but he allowed 3 runs, including Isao Harimoto's homer and got the loss. He had a 18-16 record with a 2.52 ERA, and he ranked 7th in wins (11 behind Ritsuo Horimoto), 8th in ERA (between Midori Ishikawa and Kiyoshi Oishi), 6th in appearances (42, between Akiyama and Mamoru Hiroshima) and 5th in innings (187 1/3, between Masaichi Kaneda and Akiyama). Murata extended his solid performances in 1961, and he went 14-13 with a 2.31 ERA. He was 8th in wins (between Yoshio Kitagawa and Yoshiaki Ito) and 7th in ERA (between Minoru Murayama and Masaaki Koyama).

Murata was selected into the 1962 NPB All-Star Game, but he allowed a 2-run homer to Kazuhiro Yamauchi in Game 1. He was 12-16 with a 2.36 ERA in 1962, and he tied Hidetoshi Ikeda for 5th in losses. Murata was an out away from getting a perfect game on July 12, but Kazuyoshi Nishiyama's infield single broke it up. He then had a 13-14 record with a 3.56 ERA in 1963, and he slumped to 2-7 with a 3.63 ERA in 1964. Murata went 6-11 with a 3.89 ERA in 1965, and he was 11-12 with a 3.14 ERA in 1966. He tied Ikeda and Tatsumi Yamanaka for 9th in losses in '66. Murata's ERA was 4.01 with a 8-12 record in 1967, and he tied Kentaro Ogawa and Gene Bacque for 8th in losses. He was 8-5 with a 3.09 ERA in 1968, and he announced his retirement after having a 2.03 ERA in 15 relief outings in 1969.

Overall, Murata was 118-140 with a 3.05 ERA, struck out 991 and pitched 2,154 innings in 13 years in NPB. As of 2024, he was 88th in complete games (80, tied with Hideo Nomo), 74th in innings (between Kiyoshi Oishi and Kazuhisa Ishii), 95th in wins (tied with Hidetake Watanabe), 64th in starts (284, between Hideo Fujimoto and Yoshio Tenbo) and 41st in losses (tied with Yutaka Yanagida and Nobuyuki Hoshino) in NPB history.

Sources

• Wiki Japan