Masahiro 'Masa' Yamamoto (, born August 11, 1965, in

Chigasaki is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 242,798 and a population density of 6800 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography The city is located on the eastern bank of the Sagami ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

) is a left-handed, retired Japanese professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. A

screwball A screwball is a baseball and fastpitch softball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action. The pitch is sometimes known ...

er, Yamamoto pitched for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

in Japan's

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

for 29 years from 1986 to 2015. He is the oldest Japanese pitcher to win a baseball game. With 200+ career victories, he is a member of

Meikyukai The is one of the two baseball halls of fame in Japan, the other being the . The Meikyukai is a limited company for public benefit. Founded by Hall of Fame pitcher Masaichi Kaneda in 1978, the Meikyukai honors players born after 1926 (the begi ...

Biography

Yamamoto attended Nichidai Fujisawa High School, and was selected at age 18 by Chunichi. Yamamoto was the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

Earned Run Average Champion in 1993, posting a 2.05 ERA. He won the 1994

Eiji Sawamura Award The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year. The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawa ...

, going 19–8 with 3.49 ERA and 14 complete games. On September 16, 2006, Yamamoto threw a no-hitter against the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railwa ...

, becoming the oldest pitcher in NPB to throw a no-hit game. On September 5, 2014, Yamamoto won his first and only start of the season at Nagoya Dome in a shutout match against the

, making him the oldest Japanese pitcher to win a game, at 49 years, 25 days, surpassing the old mark of 48 years, 4 months set by the

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

’

Shinji Hamazaki Shinji Hamazaki (浜崎真二, 10 December 1901 – May 6, 1981) was a former Japanese baseball player and manager. Thought short in stature, Hamazaki was well known for his forceful personality.Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

with the Dragons, with his team winning once (in 2007).

Other activities

Yamamoto is a well known

RC model A radio-controlled model (or RC model) is a model that is steerable with the use of radio control. All types of model vehicles have had RC systems installed in them, including ground vehicles, boats, planes, helicopters and even submarines and ...

aficionado, and came in 4th place in a RC tournament in 2002. He has also hosted an RC model TV show on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

ONE titled ''Yamamoto Masa no Rajiko Dojo''. In addition, Yamamoto also has owned shares of racehorses, with his most successful horses being Al Ain and Shahryar.

References

External links

NPB.com
1965 births Chunichi Dragons players Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Living people Baseball people from Kanagawa Prefecture Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers People from Chigasaki, Kanagawa Vero Beach Dodgers players {{Japan-baseball-pitcher-stub

Biography

Other activities

See also

References

External links