Taira Fujita

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Taira Fujita (藤田 平)

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 9", Weight 178 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Taira Fujita played 19 seasons for the Hanshin Tigers and was a Best Nine pick on seven occasions.

Fujita was Hanshin's second-round pick in 1965 NPB draft, and he hit .235/.278/.327 in 68 games as a rookie in 1966. Taira improved to .291/.325/.475 with 30 doubles, 10 triples and 16 homers as a starter in 1967. He led the Central League in hits (154), doubles and triples despite being just a 19-year-old. He was 9th in average, between Morimichi Takagi and Shozo Doi. Fujita was named to the Best Nine as the league's best shortstop and made his first All-Star team as well; he went 1-for-6 in the 1967 NPB All-Star Games.

Taira produced at only a .240/.287/.378 rate in 1968, though he again had 30 doubles to lead the CL. He went deep 19 times in 1969, when his batting line was .293/.327/.460 at year's end. He led the league with 526 at-bats and was 7th in average, between Yukinobu Kuroe and Toshio Naka. Fujita was selected into the 1969 NPB All-Star Games, and he was 2-for-5 in Game i but went 0-for-7 in the other two games. He was again picked to the Best Nine at short. In 1970, the youngster batted .275/.322/.409 with 26 doubles and was again both a Best Nine pick at short. He was 6th in average (between Makoto Matsubara and Naka), 9th in hits (122, between Akira Ejiri and Goro Toi), 7th in triples (3) and 10th in RBI (51, tied with Ejiri and Takagi).

Fujita hit .272/.336/.496 with a career-high 28 homers in 1971. He made his third All-Star squad, and he was 2-for-10 in the 1971 NPB All-Star Games, with a double against Koji Ohta in Game 1. He was 11th in average and again was the Best Nine selection at shortstop. Of those with a higher average, only corner infielders Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima went deep more often. Fujita also ranked 7th in hits (125, between Shigeru Takada and Isao Shibata), 2nd in triples (4, tied with Masayuki Nakatsuka), 4th in homers (tied with John Miller) and 8th in RBI (61, between Koji Yamamoto and Matsubara). In 1972, the 24-year-old produced at a .276/.347/.446 rate with 27 doubles and 18 dingers. He led the CL in at-bats (522) and plate appearances (580), and he tied Matsubara and Yamamoto for the league lead in two-baggers. Fujita got his fifth Best Nine nod, and he was 2nd in hits (144, tied with Toshiyuki Mimura), 2nd in triples (4, 4 behind Shibata) and 10th in RBI (64, between Yamamoto and Dave Roberts.

The Hanshin infielder batted .281/.329/.439 with 27 doubles, 17 homers and 73 runs in 1973. He led the league in at-bats (519) and plate appearances (569). He was two doubles behind leader Tsutomu Wakamatsu, and he ranked 7th in batting (between Matsubara and Shinichi Eto), 2nd in hits (146, 6 behind Oh), 9th in homers (tied with Wakamatsu) and 7th in RBI (59, tied with Toshimitsu Suetsugu). He was picked to the Best Nine for the sixth time and also won the second Diamond Glove Award given out to the best defensive shortstop in the CL. He made the 1973 NPB All-Star Game, and he went 3-for-8, with a double against Akira Tanaka in Game 1. Fujita's batting line rose to .302/.363/.497 with 16 homers in 1974, with only 20 strikeouts in 374 at-bats. Fujita ranked 7th in batting (between John Sipin and Nakatsuka) and 8th in OBP (between Nakatsuka and Suetsugu). He was picked as an All-Star again, and he had a 2-for-11 record in the 1974 NPB All-Star Game. He won his last Best Nine at short; Mimura would unseat him the next year.

Fujita hit .290/.336/.422 with a league-high 9 sacrifice flies in 1975. He placed 9th in average, between Wakamatsu and Oh. He was an All-Star again and won his second Diamond Glove. In 1976, he had a batting line of .278/.329/.435 and made his 7th All-Star team; he went 1-for-7 in the 1976 NPB All-Star Game with a double against Osamu Higashio in Game 3. The veteran batted .300/.351/.431 in 1977, his 12th pro season. He ranked 10th in hits (142, between Yasunori Oshima and Oh), 9th in doubles (23, tied with Jim Lyttle and Mike Reinbach) and 10th in triples (3).

Moving to first base in 1978, Fujita hit .301/.352/.441 with 77 runs and only 18 strikeouts in 522 at-bats. He set a CL record by going 208 at-bats without striking out, from April 30 through July 5. Fujita ranked 3rd in hits (157, tied with Wakamatsu), 10th in doubles (26) and 8th in triples (4). He was just 11 for 40 with two walks in 1979, while being sidelined by injury. Taira hit .304/.361/.407 in 1980.

In 1981, the 33-year-old put up an impressive .358/.407/.512 line with 70 RBI. He won the batting title by .001 over Toshio Shinozuka, won the Diamond Glove at first, was named NPB Comeback Player of the Year and won his only Best Nine selection at first base. He made his last All-Star team, and he was hitless in 3 at-bats in the 1981 NPB All-Star Game. Fujita also ranked 3rd in OBP (between Jitsuo Mizutani and Yamamoto) and 4th in doubles (24, behind Lyttle, Daisuke Yamashita and Masayuki Kakefu). Fujita faded to .290/.342/.397 in 1982 (the year he had the controversial foul and the winning homer in the Violent Tiger Incident) and .275/.318/.343 as a part-timer in 1983. On May 3, 1983, he became the 15th NPB player and first Hanshin-produced player with 2,000 career hits. He was a pinch-hitter in his last season, 1984, and hit only .171/.244/.268 in 46 plate appearances.

Fujita later worked as a baseball commentator for Asahi Broadcasting. In 1994, he managed in the minors for Hanshin. He became the big club's skipper partway through 1995, succeeding Katsuhiro Nakamura and going 17-36 the rest of the way. After a 48-69 start in 1996, he was let go in favor of Takeshi Shibata. In addition to his poor work record-wise, he did not get along well with some players - Tsuyoshi Shinjo retired briefly due to Fujita's criticism of Shinjo's play. Fujita had said that Shinjo's poor discipline must be due to poor parenting. He later managed the independent Fukui Nexus Elephants in 2008.

Overall, Fujita hit .286/.336/.435 with 854 runs, 355 doubles, 207 home runs and 802 RBI in 2,010 games. Through 2025, he was 90th all-time in runs (between Seiichi Uchikawa and Kenichi Yazawa), 26th in doubles (tied with Wakamatsu, Yoshitomo Tani, Takeshi Yamasaki and Shinnosuke Abe), 41st in hits (2,064, between Yohei Oshima and Yazawa), 47th in triples (50, tied with Takuro Ishii and Kosuke Fukudome) and 66th in batting (between Fukudome and Atsunori Inaba). One negative part of his career was that he never played in a Japan Series, joining Hanshin two years after their 1964 Japan Series appearance and retiring one year before their 1985 Japan Series title.

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