Hideshi Miyake

Hideshi Miyake (三宅 秀史)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 154 lb.

• High School Nankai High School

• Born April 5, 1934 in Kurashiki, Okayama Japan
• Died March 3, 2021 in Mie Prefecture Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Infielder Hideshi Miyake played 15 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Miyake hit .224/.262/.345 in 26 games as a rookie for the Hanshin Tigers in 1953 then .214/.283/.405 in 93 plate appearances over 58 games in 1954. At age 21, he batted .247/.283/.325 with 18 steals in 27 tries in 1955. He fell to .220/.266/.330 in 1956 with only 42 runs produced in 128 games, though he did go 18-for-22 in steal attempts. Miyake improved significantly in 1957, hitting .267/.333/.398 with 22 swipes in 30 tries and 31 doubles, leading the Central League. He was 7th in the CL in batting average (between Noboru Aota and Atsushi Otsu) and 7th in steals (tied with Takao Sato and Jiro Kanayama). He made his first All-Star team, and he was 0-for-2 in the 1957 NPB All-Star Game. He also made the Best Nine as the top third baseman in the circuit, an honor that would soon be monopolized by Shigeo Nagashima from 1958 through 1974.

Hideshi batted .269/.329/.459 with 81 runs, a career-high 21 home runs and 35 steals (in 51 tries) in 1958. He was selected into the 1958 NPB All-Star Game, but he was 0-for-2 again. He did lead the CL with 107 strikeouts. Miyake just missed the top 10 in average, and he was 3rd in hits (137, tied with Wally Yonamine and Noboru Inoue), 6th in doubles (22, tied with Shigeru Fujio and Satoshi Hirayama), 3rd in homers (between Toru Mori and Inoue), 3rd in runs (between Hiroharu Okajima and Tatsuro Hirooka) and 3rd in steals (between Yukihiko Machida and Nagashima). In 1959, the Tigers infielder hit .268/.325/.453 with 26 doubles, 18 homers and 30 steals in 41 tries. He made his third straight All-Star team, and he was 1-for-6 in the 1959 NPB All-Star Game. He led the league in at-bats, and he was 4th in hits (133, between Mori and Tokuji Iida), 7th in homers (13 behind Mori and Takeshi Kuwata), 9th in RBI (63, between Kazuhiko Sakazaki and Fujii) and 3rd in steals (between Masataka Tsuchiya and Kuwata).

Miyake made his last All-Star squad in 1960, when he hit .271/.349/.435 with 29 doubles and 29 steals in 42 attempts. He placed 9th in the league in average (between Iida and Sadaharu Oh), 2nd in doubles (2 behind Teruo Namiki) and 4th in steals (between Okajima and Namiki). Miyake hit .273/.344/.424 in 1961 with 15 home runs and 23 stolen bases in 26 attempts. He was 9th in the loop in average (between Akiteru Kono and Toshio Naka), 9th in RBI (56, tied with Akira Owada and Fujii), 4th in hits (132, tied with Kuwata and Tsuchiya) and 3rd in steals (tied with Kono). He slumped to .232/.298/.370 in 1962. That year, he had a streak of 882 consecutive games played end, dating back to April 1956. The streak ended when he was hit in the eye by a pitch by Masaaki Koyama during a pregame practice. He had played every inning in 700 straight games.

The Okayama native played just 24 games while rehabbing in 1963, hitting only .188/.220/.333. He batted .185/.239/.354 in 35 games in 1964 and was 2 for 8 with a walk in the 1964 Japan Series. He had just 30 plate appearances in 32 games in 1965, going 2 for 28 with 2 walks, 4 steals and 5 runs. Miyake was 4 for 24 with a double in 1966 and played one game the next year. He later was a coach for Hanshin.

Overall, Miyake had hit .252/.313/.399 in 1,219 games for the Tigers with 100 home runs and 198 steals in 276 tries.

Source

• Wiki Japan
• Japanbaseballdaily.com