Noboru Akiyama

From BR Bullpen

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Noboru Akiyama (秋山 登)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 10", Weight 160 lbs.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Ironman submarine pitcher Noboru Akiyama played his entire 12-year career with the Taiyo Whales.

Noboru started out in high school as an outfielder but was converted to pitching in college. He holds the Big6 record of 22 strikeouts in a game against Tokyo University in 1954, and he was 33-18 with a 1.48 ERA and 334 Ks in his college career. He helped the Japanese national team win Gold at the 1955 Asian Championship, their first Asian Championship title. Akiyama's manager in college put him through thousand pitch sessions each day in order to develop a rubber arm.

The Whales signed Akiyama in 1965, and he had a monster rookie year. He went 25-25 with a 2.39 ERA, and he led the Central League in complete games (26), losses, innings (379 2/3), hits allowed (290), homers allowed (24), walks (136) and runs (120). He was 2nd in wins (2 behind Takehiko Bessho) and 2nd in strikeouts (266, 50 behind Masaichi Kaneda). Akiyama easily won the NPB Rookie of the Year as he earned 25 of his team's 43 wins. He was also voted into the 1956 NPB All-Star Game, and he pitched 2 innings with 2 runs (1 earned) allowed in Game 1.

The Okayama native was still dominant in 1957, and he was 24-27 with a 2.50 ERA and 312 strikeouts. He was the only 300-strikeout pitcher in Taiyo's history. He led the league in appearances (65), starts (40), complete games (27), losses, innings (406), hits (319), homers (21), walks (116), strikeouts, balks (1) and runs (138). He was 2nd in wins again, 4 behind Kaneda. Akiyama also set the CL record for most losses in a season, and no other CL righty had more strikeouts than him as of 2025. In the 1957 NPB All-Star Game, Akiyama relieved Tsutomu Ina in the 9th inning of Game 1 but he gave up a RBI double to Hiroshi Oshita.

Akiyama was 17-23 with a 2.51 ERA in 1958, and he again led the league in losses. He was 5th in wins, 6th in ERA (between Shigeru Sugishita and Masahiko Oishi) and 3rd in strikeouts (243, between Masaaki Koyama and Sho Horiuchi). Akiyama also attended the 1958 NPB All-Star Game, and he fanned 5 in 3 shutout innings in Game 1. Akiyama then relieved Kaneda in the 3rd inning of the 1959 NPB All-Star Game 1, and he completed 2 1/3 innings with a RBI single allowed to Kihachi Enomoto. He went 14-22 with a 3.29 ERA in 1959, and he was 9th in wins, 5th in complete games (17, tied with Yoshio Kitagawa) and 4th in strikeouts (212, between Koyama and Yasushi Kodama). Because the Whales were a weak team, Akiyama became the first and only pitcher in NPB history to led the league in defeats 4 consecutive seasons.

The ace of Taiyo had his best season in 1960. He was 21-15 with a 1.75 ERA, and he won his first ERA title. Akiyama was 4th in wins (between Koyama and Kaneda), 5th in appearances (59) and 6th in strikeouts (183, between Gentaro Shimada and Mamoru Hiroshima). He attended the 1960 NPB All-Star Game, and he pitched 3 shutout innings with 3 Ks in Game 2. He led the Whales to the pennant, and he gained 80 of 158 votes in the CL MVP voting and won his only MVP award. In the 1960 Nippon Series, Akiyama appeared in all 4 games as a reliever, and he only allowed one run in 16 1/3 innings to help his Whales sweep the heavily favored Daimai Orions. He was the winning pitcher of Game 1 and 4.

Akiyama was voted into the 1961 NPB All-Star Game, and he completed 2 shutout inning in Game 1. He was 20-15 with a 2.63 ERA, and he ranked 4th in wins (tied with Kaneda), 6th in losses (tied with Kitagawa) and 6th in strikeouts (179, between Koyama and Yoshiaki Ito). He improved to 26-12 with a 1.94 ERA in 1962, and he was 3rd in wins (behind Yoshiaki Ito and Koyama), 4th in ERA (between Kaneda and Makoto Inagawa) and 6th in strikeouts (199, between Gondo and Oishi). He relieved Gondo in the 5th round of the 1962 NPB All-Star Game 2, and he completed 1 1/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. On September 25 and September 26, Akiyama became the only pitcher in the two-league era to complete a shutout in two straight days.

The submariner was very rarely ever bothered by injury. In 1963, he felt sharp elbow pains in the first inning of a game and had to come out. The Whales' trainer treated him with acupuncture, and the next day, Akiyama tossed a complete game victory. He win both halves of doubleheaders the fifth different time in his career on September 5; that set the NPB record. Akiyama was 13-14 with a 3.10 ERA in that season, and he was 7th in losses (tied with Yasuhiko Kawamura, Kunio Jonouchi, Genichi Murata and Koyama). He relieved Koyama in the 7th inning of the 1963 NPB All-Star Game 1, and he pitched three shutout innings with a strikeout. He got the win thanks to Kazuhiko Kondo's walk-off homer.

Akiyama was selected into the 1964 NPB All-Star Game, and it was his 9th and the last All-Star appearance. He relieved Motoshi Fujita in the 7th inning of Game 2, and he pitched 3 shutout innings with 3 strikeouts. Akiyama went 21-10 with a 2.73 ERA in 1964, and he was 4th in wins (tied with Inagawa) and 8th in strikeouts (126, between Ito and Jonouchi). He went 5-5 with a 2.71 ERA in 1965, and he slumped to 6-8 with a 4.02 ERA in 1966. Akiyama only pitched 2 games in 1967, and he announced his retirement. Akiyama managed the Whales for two seasons after retiring and then became a commentator for Kanagawa TV. He died of respiratory arrest at his home on August 12, 2000. Akiyama was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.

Overall, Akiyama was 193-171 with 1,897 strikeouts and a 2.60 ERA in 12 seasons in NPB. As of 2024, he was 29th in appearances (639, between Tetsuya Yamaguchi and Masaji Hiramatsu), 68th in starts (278, tied with Hisao Niura), 40th in complete games (132), 31st in shutouts (29, tied with Shigeo Ishii and Nobuyuki Hoshino), 26th in wins (between Ryohei Hasegawa and Hiromu Matsuoka), 17th in losses (between Victor Starffin and Hisashi Yamada), 29th in innings (2,993, between Tsuneo Horiuchi and Shoichi Ono), 35th in hits (2,468, between Osamu Nomura and Hoshino), 31st in strikeouts (between Tsuyoshi Wada and Horiuchi) and 18th in ERA (between Tokuji Kawasaki and Hasegawa).

Sources[edit]

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