Hidetake Watanabe

Hidetake Watanabe (渡辺 秀武)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

• High School Fuji High School

• Born September 16, 1941 in Fuji, Shizuoka Japan
• Died August 25, 2007 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Hidetake Watanabe pitched for 19 years in Nippon Pro Baseball, going 118-100, making two All-Star teams. He pitched in eight Japan Series and on five teams in his long career.

Watanabe started his career in the industrial leagues for Nihon Keikinzoku before being signed by the Yomiuri Giants prior to the 1963 season. He debuted with Yomiuri a year later, going 2-5 with a 5.16 ERA in 15 games. A year later, he only pitched 10 1/3 innings, allowing two runs. He became a regular member in 1966 and went 13-6 with a 2.34 ERA. In 154 1/3 IP, he only walked 20. That year, he became a submarine pitcher. He finished 8th in the Central League in ERA (between Kiyotake Suzuki and Tatsumi Yamanaka) and 9th in wins (tied with Eiji Bando and Susumu Oba). In the 1966 Japan Series, he allowed two home runs in two innings in his lone appearance, but Yomiuri still won, part of their record run of 9 straight titles.

In 1967, the 25-year-old had a 13-6, 2.55 record. He was 7th in wins (tied with Minoru Murayama) and 7th in ERA (between Kentaro Ogawa and Kunio Jonouchi). During the 1967 Japan Series, he allowed one run in six innings, on a solo homer. He fell to 1-3, 4.41 in 1968 and bounced back to 10-8, 3.36 in 1969. He allowed one hit in 3 1/3 IP in the 1969 Japan Series but continued his home run trend in the Series, allowing his fourth solo homer, to Akira Ishii in Game 4.

Watanabe had possibly his best season in 1970. He had a 23-8, 2.53 record with 39 walks in 260 1/3 IP, though he led the CL with 14 hit batsmen. He threw a no-hitter against the Hiroshima Carp on May 18, and he was the only pitcher in NPB history to complete a no-hitter in both top team and minor league. Watanabe made his first All-Star team that year, and he started in the 1970 NPB All-Star Game 1. However, he allowed gave up 5 straight hits without retiring any batters, and he got the loss. He finished 8th in the league in ERA (between Hiroshi Kito and Yukiharu Shibuya) and two wins behind leader Masaji Hiramatsu. In the 1970 Japan Series, he struggled, allowing five runs in four innings, including a pinch-hitting grand slam from Reiji Iishii.

In the 1971 season, he was 10-12 with a 3.26 ERA. He made his second All-Star squad and was part of a historic All-Star Game no-hitter, working innings 4 and 5 against the Pacific League All-Stars. He teamed with Yutaka Enatsu (3 innings), Kazumi Takahashi (1 inning), Hisanobu Mizutani (1/3 IP) and Tadakatsu Kotani (2 2/3 IP). Watanabe allowed three runs in 2 2/3 IP in the 1971 Japan Series, all unearned. Watanabe had a 10-11, 3.17 record for the 1972 campaign. He led the CL with 13 batters hit by pitch. In the 1972 Japan Series, Watanabe allowed one run (a solo homer of course) in two innings of work.

Watanabe was traded to the Nittaku Home Flyers for Yoshimasa Takahashi in 1973, and he was 11-14 with a 3.62 ERA for his new club. The next year, he was 4-6 with a save and a 3.92 ERA, working more out of the bullpen than he had been previously. In 1975, Watanabe went 5-8 with a 4.41 ERA and led the Pacific League with 17 batters hit by pitch. He did win his 100th game in NPB that year. He was then traded to the Taiyo Whales for Katsuji Sakai in 1976, and he again had a 4.41 ERA; he won 3, lost 7 and saved one that year. In 17 2/3 innings in 1977, Watanabe was rocked for 33 hits, 6 homers and 22 runs. He had a 10.42 ERA but somehow went 1-0. Given up for gone, Watanabe bounced back a bit in 1978, going 5-3 with 2 saves and a 4.16 ERA after the Whales traded him with Hideyuki Okue to the Lotte Orions for Yoshio Tanaka.

The Orions traded him with Tomehiro Kaneda to the Hiroshima Carp for Takao Kenmotsu, Hideyuki Hirata and Takuya Mochizuki after the 1978 season. Joining his fifth team, the veteran had a great year, going 2-1 with 2 saves and a 2.22 ERA in 47 games in 1979. He had the lowest ERA on the Central League champions' pitching staff. He once again appeared on a Japan Series-winning team, allowing one hit (not a homer!) and one run in four games in the 1979 Japan Series. In 1980, the old-timer began his third decade in NPB with a 3-1, 2 Sv, 2.90 campaign in 42 games. He allowed three hits and one run in 2/3 of an inning in the 1980 Japan Series but he still was on his 8th title-winning team in eight Series appearances.

Watanabe was 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA in 43 games in 1981 before only appearing in three games in his final season in 1982 (allowing no runs). In his retiring game, he intentionally plunked Haruki Yoshitake to set the new NPB record for career hit-by-pitches. After retiring, Watanabe became a scout for Hiroshima. He signed Ryuji Endo, Jun Kawabata, Hiroshi Nagatomi, Yasuyuki Yamauchi, Toshikazu Sawazaki, Takahiro Arai and Kenta Kurihara. He died of pneumonia 25 years after his career ended.

Career Statistics

In 606 games and 2,083 2/3 IP in Nippon Pro Baseball, Watanabe was 118-100 with 8 saves and a 3.35 ERA. He walked only 404 and struck out 1,041 while allowing 1,976 hits and 205 home runs. Through 2025, he was 38th all-time in games pitched (tied Tamotsu Nagai), 98th in complete games (tied with Hiroki Kuroda, Hirohisa Matsunuma and Mitsuo Inaba), 96th in wins, 82nd in innings (between Sohachi Aniya and Hisanobu Watanabe) and 2nd in hit batsmen (144, 21 behind Osamu Higashio).

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland
• Daily Yomiuri Online