Isamu Fujii

Isamu Fujii (藤井 勇)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 156 lb.
• High School Tottori Nishi High School
• Born October 20, 1916 in Tottori, Tottori Japan
• Died February 7, 1986

BR register page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Isamu Fujii spent 17 years in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Fujii signed with the Osaka Tigers when they were founded in 1936, and he hit .365/.459/.476 in 15 games in the spring season. On May 4 against Akira Noguchi, Fujii hit the first homer in NPB history, and that was a inside-the-park home run. He then recorded a .320/.406/.400 batting line in the fall season, and he led the Japanese Professional Baseball League in hits, runs and total bases. He also ranked 5th in batting (between Minoru Yamashita and Harris McGalliard) and 2nd in triples (3, 1 behind Kentaro Ito). Fujii collected 5 triples with a .256/.375/.356 batting line in the 1937 spring season, and he was 7th in hits (tied with Shosei Go), 5th in RBI (tied with Kano Omoda) and 4th in doubles (tied with Koichi Yamashita and Toshizo Kobayashi). He played 49 games with a .299/.394/.385 batting line in the fall season, and he was 3rd in hits (tied with Yamashita), 2nd in RBI (1 behind Haruyasu Nakajima) and 7th in batting (between Yoshio Takahashi and Nakajima).

The Tottori native hit .291/.408/.349 in 32 games in the 1938 spring season, and he slumped to .200/.256/.250 in the fall season. He then enlisted into the military, and he missed the next three seasons. Fujii returned in 1942 with a .253/.334/.338 batting line with 5 triples, then he enlisted into the military again. After the World War II, Fujii signed with the Pacific club and he hit .286/.349/.386 with 4 homers. He had a .257/.311/.369 batting line with 24 doubles in 1947, and he was 6th in hits (tied with Kazuo Horii and Yasuya Hondo) and 3rd in doubles (between Tetsuharu Kawakami and Hiroshi Oshita). He slumped to .222/.264/.287 in 1948, and he crushed 16 homers with a .283/.328/.469 batting line in 1949.

When the JPBL split into two leagues in 1950, Fujii joined the Taiyo Whales and he had a monster year. He crushed 34 homers with a .327/.405/.597 batting line, and he was 6th in hits (between Makoto Kozuru and Yoshiyuki Iwamoto), 5th in runs (tied with Jiro Kanayama and Michio Nishizawa), 3rd in doubles (behind Nobuo Osawa and Fumio Fujimura), 5th in homers (tied with Torao Ooka), 6th in RBI (between Iwamoto and Kawakami) and 5th in batting (between Noboru Aota and Osawa). His 122 RBI in a season was Taiyo's team record until Bobby Rose broke it in 1999. Fujii then set the NPB record with 4 doubles in a game on August 5, 1951, but his batting line fell to .255/.293/.441; he tied Iwamoto for 5th in doubles. He then hit .286/.338/.468 with 14 homers in 1952, and he was 8th in doubles (tied with Tokuzo Harada, Kozuru and Iwamoto), 2nd in triples (3 behind Katsuji Kojima), 9th in RBI (between Tamaichi Yasui and Masayasu Kaneda) and 8th in homers (tied with Takao Sato).

Fujii extended his solid performance in 1953, and he crushed 15 homers with a .299/.348/.471 batting line. He was 5th in homers, 7th in batting (Riichi Kodama and Shinsuke Yogi) and 10th in hits (between Yuko Minamimura and Osawa). He then crushed 15 homers with a .264/.318/.433 batting line in 1954, and he tied Tatsuro Hirooka and Kozuru for 6th in homers. Fujii was named the player-manager of the Whales in 1955, so he only played 62 games with a .283/.350/.433 batting line. His Whales was 31-99 that season, became a fill-time again in 1956. Fujii hit .264/.313/.428 with 13 homers, and he tied Yonamine for 5th in homers. He then hit .274/.312/.452 in 1957, but he was 3-for-19 in 1958 and he announced his retirement. Fujii then became the batting coach for Taiyo from 1959 to 1961 and for the Daimai Orions in 1963. He managed Taiyo's minors teamfrom 1968 to 1969, and he was the bench coach for the Hanshin Tigers from 1970 to 1973.

Overall, Fujii hit .275/.337/.423 with 1,482 hits and 146 homers in 17 seasons in NPB. As of 2025, he tied Shigeru Chiba, Takeshi Doigaki, Daichi Suzuki and Roberto Barbon for 50th in triples in NPB history.

Sources

• Wiki Japan