Michihiro Ogasawara (小笠原道大, born October 25, 1973 in Mihama-ku, Chiba,

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

, Japan) is a Japanese former 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 ...

player. He is currently the first team head coach for

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Figh ...

. He had an illustrious career spanning 18 years with the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

, and 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) ...

where he won two

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 ...

, two MVP awards in both the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and Central leagues; only one of two people to do so and the first to do it in consecutive seasons. He was an NPB All-Star 11 times. He was also a part of the 2006 and 2009

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Lea ...

winning Japan sides.

Early career

Ogasawara started playing baseball at age 7 playing in the Chiba West Little League. From 1989 he studied at Gyosei International High School in

Kisarazu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 136,023 in 63,431 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kisarazu is locat ...

. When he started at the team he was regarded as a complete no-name and his then coach mentioned that "we were asked to go after a junior middle schooler from the Chiba West Little League and we got the player that no one spoke of, Ogasawara." Up until that point he had been tried at a variety of fielding positions including

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

but during high school was converted to be a second baseman and the following year served as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

(however Ogasawara admits that catcher was his least favourite position) In his junior year, alongside fellow future pro Tetsuya Kitagawa he finished runner-up in the Chiba prefectural tournament. Although now widely regarded for his power and hitting prowess, Ogaswara failed to register a single home run in the tournament. Following graduation from high school, Ogasawara was employed with NTT East. He was judged at the time to, even in the worst case, still be of use as a bullpen catcher. He would start life with the team as a catcher and later form a battery with future Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters team-mate, Naoyuki Tateishi. In 1996, he took part in the 67th Intercity baseball tournament, playing alongside Nobuhiko Matsunaka with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Kazusa Magic to reach the best 8. In 1996, Ogasawara was the third draft pick selected by the Fighters in the 1996 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft where he made the declaration that he would become a "player that can contest for batting titles."

Professional career

Ogasawara was one of the most consistent hitters in Japanese baseball. He won two consecutive batting titles from –, and led the league in home runs and RBIs in to win the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...

MVP award. He led the league in hits from –, and has won 6 Japanese Golden Glove awards at first base and

. He participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics held in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece, winning a bronze medal. He also played for the Japanese national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, where he hit a home run off Esteban Loaiza at

Angel Stadium of Anaheim Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a baseball stadium located in Anaheim, California. Since its opening in 1966, it has served as the home ballpark of the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB), and was also the home stadium to the Los Ange ...

. In 2006, he helped the

win their first Pacific League pennant since , sweeping the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

in the playoffs to reach the Japanese championship series against the

. The Fighters beat the Dragons in 5 games to win the Japanese championship series. He became a free agent in 2006, and signed a four-year contract with the

during the off-season. Following 6 successful years with the Giants, Ogasawara would move to the

in 2013 and retired with the team at the conclusion of the 2015 season.

Post-retirement and coaching career

Following retirement, Ogasawara was instated as the head coach of the

' minor league team, playing in the Western League. Following the dismissal of first team manager, Motonobu Tanishige on the 8th of August, 2016 Ogasawara was mentioned as the main candidate to replace the outgoing manager at the season's end. He was however unsuccessful in attaining the manager position as senior figures at the Dragons decided to appoint a more experienced manager in Shigekazu Mori to help rebuild the team. On 29 September 2019, it was announced that Ogasawara would not be renewing his contract with the Dragons for the 2020 season with speculation linking him with the vacant

Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a s ...

managerial position.

References

External links

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NPB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogasawara, Michihiro 1973 births People from Kisarazu 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Baseball people from Chiba Prefecture Chunichi Dragons players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Living people Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Nippon Ham Fighters players Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball catchers Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners Olympic baseball players of Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in baseball People from Chiba (city) Yomiuri Giants players