Junzo Sekine

Junzo Sekine (関根 潤三)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 143 lbs.

• School Hosei University
• High School The Third High School of Nihon University

• Born March 15, 1927 in Shibuya, Tokyo Japan
• Died April 9, 2020 in Tokyo Prefecture Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Junzo Sekine was selected for All-Star teams as both a pitcher and an outfielder. In a 16-season career, he played in both leagues during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Sekine was 41-30 in his college career, and he set the Tokyo Big Six League record with 133 2/3 innings in a season in 1949. He signed with the Kintetsu Pearls in 1950, and he was 4-12 with a 5.67 ERA in his first season. Also playing on occasion at first base, he hit .248/.287/.357 with four homers in 129 AB. When he batted 3rd in the lineup, he was the last rookie pitcher to do so in Japan until the great Shohei Ohtani 63 years later. Sekine improved to 7-11 with a 3.43 ERA while hitting .258/.290/.31 in 1951, and he went 5-16 with a 3.52 ERA in 1952; he drove in 16 runs in 99 AB and produced at a .313/.340/.394 rate. He ranked 3rd in losses in the Pacific League (behind Mitsuro Sawafuji and Fumio Takechi) and 10th in strikeouts (78, between Toshihide Yamane and Toshiaki Ogata). Sekine was selected into the 1953 NPB All-Star Game, and he pitched 2 shutout innings as the PL's starter in Game 1. He ended up 10-15 with a 3.16 ERA, and he was 2nd in losses (tied with Takeuchi and Tokuji Kawasaki) and 8th in strikeouts (106, between Taketoshi Ogami and Eiji Shibata). He batted .318/.348/.424 and scored 10 runs in 89 plate appearances.

The Tokyo native had his career year in 1954, and he had a 16-12 record with a 2.44 ERA; he hit .258/.348/.309. Sekine ranked 10th in wins (tied with Yoshihiko Taki and Isao Wada) and 10th in ERA (between Yasuo Yonekawa and Noboru Yamashita). He was 14-16 with a 3.54 ERA in 1955, and he tied Takechi for 4th in losses. He was at .275/.349/.308 at the plate. Sekine then went 9-11 with a 2.95 ERA in 1956 (.268/.291/.317 on offense), but he suffered from a shoulder injury so he only pitched 2 games with a 5.06 ERA in 1957. Thus, Sekine decided to become an outfielder that season, and he hit .284/.352/.373 with 6 homers. He ranked 9th in batting, between Yasumitsu Toyoda and Teruyuki Takakura. As of 2025, he was the only player in NPB history to rank in the top 10 in batting and ERA. Ohtani never had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, or he would have joined Sekine.

Sekine missed most of the 1958 season due to injuries, so he only played 59 games with a .254/.307/.324 batting line. He returned in 1959, and he hit .291/.345/.413 with 17 doubles. Sekine led the league with 8 triples, and he was 9th in batting (between Akitoshi Kodama and Yoshio Anabuki). He also attended the 1959 NPB All-Star Game, but he was 0-for-2. He was the first player in NPB history to attend the All-Star Game as a pitcher and position player, and only Ohtani also has done it as of 2025. Sekine extended his solid performance in 1960, hitting .282/.331/.344 in 112 games. He again was selected into the 1960 NPB All-Star Game, but he was hitless in 2 at-bats. Sekine ranked 10th in batting, between Toyoda and Nobushige Morishita.

Junzo hit .283/.334/.391 with 9 homers in 1961, then he improved to .310/.360/.424 in 1962. He attended the 1962 NPB All-Star Game, but he was hitless again. Sekine was 8th in batting, between Kodama and Katsuya Nomura. He then crushed a career-high 12 homers with a .296/.376/.423 batting line in 1963, and he was 7th in doubles (26), 9th in hits (between Shuzo Aono and Isao Harimoto), 8th in runs (between Takakura and Hachiro Yamamoto), 10th in RBI (between George Wilson and Kenji Koike) and 6th in batting (between Yoshinori Hirose and Kent Hadley). He also attended his 5th and last All-Star Game, and he got his first All-Star hit, against Yoshio Kitagawa in Game 2.

Sekine slumped to .227/.281/.297 in 1964, and he went to the Yomiuri Giants. He played 90 games with a .241/.309/.327 batting line in 1965, and the Giants won the pennant. In his first and only Nippon Series, Sekine was 1-for-3 in the 1965 Nippon Series with a single against Joe Stanka in Game 2, and the Giants beat the Nankai Hawks in 5 games. Sekine won his only pennant, and he announced his retirement. He then became the fielding coach for the Hiroshima Carp in 1970, and he coached the Giants in 1975 then managed their minors team in 1975.Sekine later managed the Yokohama Taiyo Whales from 1982 to 1984 and the Yakult Swallows from 1987 to 1989. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Overall, Sekine was 65-94 with a 3.43 ERA, struck out 645 and pitched 1,345 1/3 innings in 8 seasons in NPB. At the plate, he finished his career with 1137 hits and a .279/.336/.372 batting line in 16 seasons.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Stats at Japanesebaseball.com