Kunizo Umeda

Kunizo Umeda (梅田 邦三)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 143 lb.

• High School Kyoto Commercial High School

• Born February 1, 1947 in Kyoto, Kyoto Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kunizo Umeda played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years.

Umeda was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the 9th round of the 1968 NPB draft, and he spent his first two seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got a single at-bat for the big club in those two years. He was traded with Akira Takahashi and Akira Tanaka to the Nishitetsu Lions for Isao Hirono and Takashi Hamamura, and he hit .156/.248/.200 in 77 games in 1971. He had a .222/.314/.244 batting line in 1972, and he won the competition with Shigeru Hino and became the starting shortstop for the Lions in 1973. Umeda crushed his first career home run against Masahiro Nakane, and it was originally considered the 30,000th homer in NPB history. It was revealed that actually the 30,000th homer was hit by Mitsuo Motoi in the same game. He ended up hitting .247/.332/.307 with 33 steals that season, and he led the Pacific League with 26 sacrifice bunts. He was 3rd in steals (between Ikuo Shimano and Don Buford) and 9th in triples (3, tied with Don Buford, Taira Sumitomo, Kunio Fukutomi, Tsuyoshi Oshita and Mikio Sendo). He also set the PL record with a .988 fielding percentage as a shortstop.

The Kyoto native slumped to .218/.291/.253 with 18 steals in 1974, and he hit .167/.247/.191 in 110 games in 1975. The Lions then traded him to the Chunichi Dragons for Osamu Hirose and Shinsaburo Tsuboi, and he played 110 games with a .223/.287/.292 batting line. Umeda was 10-for-43 in 1977, and he had a 14-for-49 record in 1978. He suffered from injuries, so he only got 25 more at-bats for the top team before the Dragons traded to the Nippon Ham Fighters for cash in the middle of the 1980 season. Umeda was 1-for-6 for the Fighters, and he announced his retirement.

Overall, Umeda hit .216/.296/.257 with 279 hits and 3 homers in 11 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan