Kiyoshi Doi

Kiyoshi Doi (土井 淳)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 162 lb.

• School Meiji University
• High School Okayama Higashi Commercial High School

• Born June 10, 1933 in Okayama, Okayama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kiyoshi Doi caught for the Taiyo Whales for 13 years, making 7 All-Star teams, and later managed the club for two seasons.

Doi played for the Japanese national team that won the 1955 Asian Championship, the national team's first title. He debuted in 1956 and hit .190/.256/.267 in 85 games yet still made the Central League All-Star team;he caught for Shigeru Fujio in the 1956 NPB All-Star Game 1 .The next year, he batted .248/.329/.347 and again was an All-Star. He set career highs in runs (34), homers (7) and RBI (38) in 1958 when he hit .242/.319/.339. Doi was selected into the 1958 NPB All-Star Game, and he was 1-for-2, with a single against Masayuki Dobashi in Game 1.

The Okayama native fell under the Mendoza Line at .190/.260/.246 in 1959, and he was 0-for-1 in the 1959 NPB All-Star Game. His batting line improved to .212/.298/.271 in 1960, and he made his fifth All-Star team in a row; he was 0-fpr-5 in the 1960 NPB All-Star Game. He made the Best Nine as the top overall catcher in the Central League; Masaaki Mori would begin a run of eight straight Best Nines the next year. In the 1960 Nippon Series facing the Daimai Orions, Doi made a crucial call in Game 1. When Toshio Yanagida was on second in the first inning, he noticed that Daimai's manager Yukio Nishimoto had a short talk with Yanagita, so he reminded pitcher Noboru Akiyama that Yanagida may want to steal third. Akiyama successfully picked Yanagita off, and the Whales won Game 1 by a 1-0 score. Doi was 2-for-12 in the series, and the Whales swept the Orions.

Doi fell to .196/.243/.225 with just 18 runs produced in 115 games in 1961 but was an All-Star for the sixth straight time; he went 0-for-1 in the 1961 NPB All-Star Game. He ended his All-Star run in 1962 with his 7th appearance despite his fourth sub-.200 season at .199/.261/.241. Doi remained a starter in 1963 and had one of his better seasons offensively at .242/.307/.275. Down to 69 plate appearances in 60 games as Isao Ito became the starter in 1964, Doi hit .200/.258/.333. In a similar role in 1965, he was just 9 for 64 with 2 doubles and 4 walks. He hit .189/.222/.221 in 61 games in 1966 and .248/.301/.333 in 71 games in 1967. He ended up in 1968 by going 5 for 23 with 2 walks and a homer with 8 RBI.

Kiyoshi was the battery coach for Taiyo from 1969 to 1973, then he became a broadcaster for Fuji Television from 1974 to 1977. He returned to Taiyo as bench coach in 1978, and he became their manager after Kaoru Betto was fired after the 1979 season. He managed the Whales to a 59-62-9 record in 1980 and 38-71-7 in 1981 (when he was let go with a couple weeks left and the team fired in last). Doi was the bench coach for the Hanshin Tigers from 1985 to 1987.

Overall, Doi hit .215/.284/.281 with 508 hits and 23 homers in 1,138 games in 13 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland