Hisao Niura

Hisao Niura (新浦 壽夫)
known as Il-young Kim in Korea

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Shizuoka Commercial High School

• Born May 11, 1951 in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hisao Niura won two ERA titles in a 19-season career in Nippon Pro Baseball. He also pitched for three years in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Niura was of Korean descent, so he was treated as a foreign player in the NPB draft. As a result, he was able to drop out of high school and sign with the Yomiuri Giants. This created conflict between the club and the Japan High School Baseball Federation. Thus, NPB changed their draft rule and every player from Japanese high school should enter the draft and registered as domestic player. Shoulder and back problems kept him in the minors for a couple years. He debuted with the big club in 1971, going 4-3 with a 2.01 ERA. On June 1, he tossed his shutout, limited to six innings by rain. He was awful in limited work in 1972, with 9 runs and 7 hits in 3 2/3 IP.

Yomiuri started using Niura regularly in 1973 and he responded with a 3-3, 3.44 record and .207 opponent average. He did not pitch in the 1973 Japan Series, when the Giants won their record ninth straight Japan Series. The young lefty went 7-6 with a save, 2.63 ERA and .226 opponent average in 1974. He fell to 2-11, 3.33 in 1975, and he tied Kojiro Ikegaya for 9th in losses in the Central League.

Niura made his first Central League All-Star team in 1976, and he allowed a solo shot to Tadayoshi Okuma in one inning in the 1976 NPB All-Star Game 2. He finished with a 11-11, 3.10 record and five saves. He started 25 games and relieved in 25 more, and he tied Ikegaya, Senichi Hoshino and Hiromu Matsuoka for the league lead in shutouts (3). He finished third in ERA (behind Takamasa Suzuki and Shigeru Kobayashi), 4th in strikeouts (behind Ikegaya, Matsuoka and Masaji Hiramatsu) and 9th in losses (tied with Shigeyuki Takahashi). He tossed two innings in game two of the 1976 Japan Series, allowing four hits and one unearned run, as Yomiuri fell in seven games to the Hankyu Braves.

The next year, the 26-year-old went 11-3 with 9 saves, a 2.32 ERA and .220 opponent average. He won his first ERA title by a healthy .60 over runner-up Kobayashi. He also tied Takamasa Suzuki and Kazuyuki Yamamoto for the most saves, and he ranked 7th in wins (tied with Ikegaya, Takenori Emoto, Kenji Furusawa and Clyde Wright). In the 1977 Japan Series, Hisao appeared in games one, two, four and five while Yomiuri fell in five to Hankyu. Niura had a 0-1, 4.50 record, taking the defeat in the finale, but did go 1 for 2 with 2 RBI at the plate (for his career, he was a typical pitcher in terms of offensive performance). It would be the last Japan Series of his lengthy career.

The Yomiuri veteran both won and saved his most games (15-7, 15 Sv, 2.81) in 1978. His 63 appearances (9 starts) led the CL, and he was 2nd in strikeouts (10 behind Akio Saito) and 4th in wins (tied with Hiroaki Fukushi and Takeshi Yasuda). He also led in saves, save points and ERA (.29 ahead of Takenori Emoto). He won Fireman of the Year as well as being named to the Best Nine as the CL's top pitcher. He did not take home the Sawamura Award as Japan's top hurler as that went to a CL starter, Matsuoka. He was selected into the 1978 NPB All-Star Game, but he allowed 3 runs in 2 innings in the 1978 NPB All-Star Game 2.

Niura went 15-11 with 5 saves, a 3.43 ERA and 223 strikeouts in 236 1/3 innings and leading in whiffs in 1979. He finished 7th in the CL in ERA (between Fukushi and Kazuo Yamane) and 3rd in wins (behind Kobayashi and Manabu Kitabeppu). He made his third All-Star team, and he relieved Kitabeppu in the 7th inning of the 1979 NPB All-Star Game 3. He allowed 2 solo shot to Michiyo Arito and Junichi Kashiwabara in 3 innings, and he got the win over Yutaka Yanagida. Niura was 3-4 with a save and a 3.78 ERA in 1980 because of elbow problems. His record was 0-5 with a 3.39 ERA in 1981 and 6-6, 4.08 in 1982. He went 3-2 with a 3.21 ERA in 1983 to end his 13-year run with Yomiuri.

The Korea's Samsung Lions signed him. He was 16-10 with 3 saves and a 2.27 ERA in 1984, and he ranked 3rd in ERA (between Hyung-cheol Gye and Dong-won Choi), 3rd in wins (tied with Choi and Si-jin Kim) and 2nd in strikeouts (68 behind Choi) In the 1984 Korean Series, Niura completed the Game 2 with only one run allowed, and he pitched 8 shutout innings to get the win in Game 4. He then pitched 3 shutout innings and got another win in Game 5, and he was named the starter of the win-or-go-home Game 7, facing the ace of the Lotte Giants Choi. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, but he surrendered a game-winning 3 run homer to Doo-yeol Yoo and the Lions lost.

Niura record was 25-6, 2.79 in 1985 and he tied Kim for the KBO lead in wins. He was 4th in strikeouts (between Fukushi and Dong-yeol Sun) and 9th in ERA (between Gye and Ki-ryong Ha). He finished up his time with Samsung by going 13-4 with a 2.53 ERA in 1986. He was 10th in ERA (between Kim and Dong-soo Park) and 7th in wins (tied with Ho-yeon Jang). Niura extended his solid performance in the 1986 Korean Series as he completed Game 2 with only one run allowed, but the Lions lost to the Haitai Tigers in 5 games. As he was diagnosed with diabetes in '86 and he did not get along well with teammates due to the language barrier, he decided to return to Japan. While in South Korea, Niura added a screwball and changeup to his repertoire, which previously had a fastball and curveball.

Niura's third club as a pro was the Taiyo Whales. He won NPB Comeback Player of the Year and made his third CL All-Star team, though his final numbers were mediocre (11-12, 4.26) for 1987. He surrendered 3 runs in 2 innings in the 1987 NPB All-Star Game 2. Niura tied Takao Obana and Matt Keough for 9th in wins. He was very similar at 10-11, 4.32 in 1988, and he ranked 10th in wins (tied with Hiromi Makihara, Masumi Kuwata and Hiroaki Nakayama), 10th in Ks (between Yoshihisa Shiratake and Kitabeppu) and 7th in losses (tied with Kuwata and Bob Gibson. Niura made his last All-Star team, and he allowed 2 runs in an inning in the 1988 NPB All-Star Game 2 and got the loss. His 77 earned runs allowed led the CL.

In 1989, Niura had two notable shutouts against his old Yomiuri mates. On June 30, he ended a 18-game Taiyo losing skid against the Giants. Then, on August 4, he set a Japanese record with a 13-hit shutout of Yomiuri, the most hits ever allowed by a pitcher in a shutout. Those were his only two shutouts of the year, which he finished 8-13 with a 3.39 ERA. He led the CL in walks (75) and losses (tied with Kazuhiko Daimon), his last time leading in any department. He was 7th in strikeouts, between Yutaka Ono and Kazuhiko Daimon. At age 39, the lefty was 6-10 with two saves and a 3.79 ERA in 1990. Moving full-time to relief, #28 was 0-1 with a save and a 3.21 ERA in 47 outings in 1991, 20 years after his debut with Yomiuri.

Niura was traded to the Daiei Hawks for Yoshiki Otsuka before the 1992 season, and he was sent to the Yakult Swallows in the middle of the season. A shadow of his former self, he was 1-4 with a 7.08 ERA and .338 opponent average. He announced his retirement after that season. After ending his playing career, Niura was a commentator for NTV. Niura did not disclose his diabetes to his teammates. He would inject his insulin in private locations. When his syringes were discovered, rumors began circulating about drug use - it did not help that Hisao had lost weight since his diabetes had begun.

Overall, Niura was 116-123 with 39 saves and a 3.45 ERA in 592 NPB games, with 1,706 strikeouts in 2,158 2/3 IP. In the KBO, he had a 54-20, 2.53 record with three saves. As of 2025, he was 48th in appearances in NPB, 69th in losses (tied with Shigeru Sugishita) and 43rd in strikeouts (between Masaki Saito and Osamu Higashio).

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Japanbaseballdaily
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki