was a Japanese professional baseball

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and third baseman, and coach in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played 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) ...

and

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 ...

from 1971 to 1994. He went on to manage the Fighters from 2000 to 2002, and served as the hitting coach for the Japan national baseball team during the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Early life

Oshima was born in Ōita Prefecture on October 16, 1950. He attended Nakatsu Kogyo High School. He was drafted by the

in the third round of the 1968 draft.

Professional career

Playing

Oshima made his NPB debut with the Dragons in 1971. He won two Central League pennants with the team. His best year came in 1979, when he recorded a career-high

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .317, and had the most hits in the league with 159. He also hit 36 home runs that year, the most in his career, but finished behind Masayuki Kakefu (who hit 48) as the league leader in home runs. Four seasons later, Oshima led the league in home runs with 36. He joined the

in 1988, finishing his NPB career with the team in 1994. He played 2,638 games over his 24-year career, amassing 2,204 hits, 382 home runs, and 1,234 runs batted in.

Coaching

Oshima became manager of the Fighters in 2000. He recorded his only winning season that same year, with the team finishing 69–65. Overall, he had a 181–225 record in his three seasons with the team. He later became the hitting coach of the Japan national baseball team for the 2006 World Baseball Classic, the first edition of the tournament which the Japanese team won.

Later life

Oshima was inducted into the

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 ...

. He disclosed in February 2017 that he had colon cancer. He nonetheless continued working as a baseball commentator and also blogged about his fight against the disease. Oshima died on June 30, 2021, at the age of 70.

References

External links

, an
NPB
(in Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Oshima, Yasunori 1950 births 2021 deaths People from Nakatsu, Ōita Baseball people from Ōita Prefecture Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Japanese baseball players Chunichi Dragons players Nippon Ham Fighters players Managers of baseball teams in Japan Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters managers Deaths from colorectal cancer