Katsuki Tokura

Katsuki Tokura (戸倉 勝城)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 151 lb.

• School Hosei University
• High School Toyora High School

• Born March 3, 1914 in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Japan
• Died June 6, 1997

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Katsuki Tokura played right field in Nippon Pro Baseball for nine years and later managed.

Tokura's pro debut was one for the history books. On March 11, 1950, the 36-year-old got into his first game as a pro, with the Mainichi Orions. He homered off Isamu Kinoshita in his first at-bat - the blast was the first circuit clout in the just-founded Pacific League. For the year, Tokura hit .263/.309/.502 with 21 homers, 22 steals (in 34 tries), 9 triples, 90 runs and 96 RBI. He ranked 7th in homes (tied with Junji Nakatani), 4th in triples (tied with Natsuki Higashidani) and 4th in RBI (between Tokuji Iida and Shigeyoshi Morishita). He was 3 for 6 with a walk in the 1950 Japan Series as Mainichi won the first Japan Series, topping the Shochiku Robins.

Moving to the Hankyu Braves in 1951, Tokura produced at a .219/.285/.383 rate with 10 homers. He made the first PL All-Star team, and he was 0-for-1 in the 1951 NPB All-Star Game 2. He rebounded to .301/.348/.442 with 25 swipes in 30 attempts in 1952, and he was 8th in the league in average (between Hiroshi Saito and Isami Okamoto) and 9th in steals (tied with Takuzo Miyake). Tokura hit .269/.310/.413 with 13-for-14 in steals in 1953, and he was 0-for-2 in the 1953 NPB All-Star Games. In 1954, the old-timer had a .300/.348/.451 batting line with 79 RBI. He was 5th in the circuit in average (between Kazuhiro Yamauchi and Takashi Kusaka), 7th in doubles (tied with Seiji Sekiguchi) and 7th in RBI (between Futoshi Nakanishi and Tokuji Iida).

The 1955 season was another good year as Tokura hit .321/.363/.452 with 21 steals and 9 triples. He set the NPB record for best average for a player 40 years or older. He led the league in sacrifice flies (8), was third in average (behind Nakanishi and Yamauchi) and joined Tokuji Iida and Yamauchi as the Best Nine picks in the outfield. Tokura was also selected into the 1955 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 0-for-1 in both games. Tokura fell to .293/.337/.417 at age 42 in 1956 and again led in sac flies (9). He was again fifth in average (between Kohei Sugiyama and Shinya Sasaki), 10th in hits (tied with Iida) and 6th in RBI (tied with Yamauchi). He made his last All-Star team, but he was 0-for-1 in 1956 NPB All-Star Game 2. He again was picked to the Best Nine, joining Sugiyama and Yamauchi as the outfielders. In his last season, 1957, the old-timer hit .266/.327/.382 in 78 games.

Tokura was Hankyu's batting coach in 1959 before he replaced Giichi Hayashi as Hankyu's manager partway into the season, and went 21-27-2. He remained at the reigns in 1960 (65-65-6), 1961 (53-84-3) and 1962 (60-70-1). He was replaced by Yukio Nishimoto after the '62 season. In 1967, he managed the Tokyo Orions for part of the year (27-38-5); Wataru Nonin was their pilot the rest of the campaign.

Overall, he had batted .283/.331/.435 in 907 games in NPB, with 115 steals in 160 tries, 507 RBI and 75 homers.

Sources

• Japan Baseball Daily
• Wiki Japan