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Seiichi Uchikawa
is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama BayStars and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Career Yokohama BayStars Yokohama BayStars selected Uchikawa with the first selection in the . On March 30, 2001, Uchikawa made his NPB debut. He rose to prominence in 2008 with a league-leading .378 batting average. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks During the 2010 offseason, he exercised his free agent option and after weeks of negotiations between the Yokohama BayStars, Hiroshima Toyo Carp, and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, he decided to sign a four-year deal with SoftBank worth up to 1.36 billion yen. On December 2, 2020, he became a free agent. Tokyo Yakult Swallows On December 11, 2020, Uchikawa signed with Tokyo Yakult Swallows of NPB and held press conference. International career He was selected for the Japanese national baseball team in the 2009 World Basebal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2015 Japan Series
The 2015 Japan Series was the 66th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's postseason championship series. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, champions of the Pacific League, played the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, champions of the Central League. The Hawks were the defending Japan Series champions, having beaten the Hanshin Tigers in 2014. The series was sponsored by the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and was officially known as the SMBC Nippon Series 2015. The Hawks defeated the Swallows in five games. Lee Dae-ho won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award. Kenji Akashi, Shota Takeda, and Rick van den Hurk (all of the Hawks) won outstanding player awards, while Tetsuto Yamada of the Swallows won the Fighting Spirit Award. Climax Series Summary Series notes This was the fourth time in Japan Series history that two rookie managers met, with Mitsuru Manaka managing Yakult and Kimiyasu Kudoh managing SoftBank. The other occurrences were in 1986 ( Masaaki Mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 majority of plays made at that base. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the first baseman is assigned the number 3. Also called first sacker or cornerman, the first baseman is ideally a tall player who throws left-handed and possesses good flexibility and quick reflexes. Flexibility is needed because the first baseman receives throws from the other infielders, the catcher and the pitcher after they have fielded ground balls. In order for the runner to be called out, the first baseman must be able to ''stretch'' towards the throw and catch it before the runner reaches first base. First base is often referred to as "the other hot corner"—the "hot corner" being third base—and therefore, like the third baseman, he must ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climax Series
The is the current annual playoff system implemented by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It determines which team from the Central League (CL) and from 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 consi ... (PL) will advance to compete for the championship in the Japan Series. After the creation of the NPB's two-league system in 1950, the PL experimented with three different playoff systems. In 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball season, 2004, it implemented the postseason structure from which the Climax Series is based. After three seasons, the CL adopted the same system in 2007 Nippon Professional Baseball season, 2007, creating the current, unified playoff format. Both leagues play a regular season, after which the top three teams in each league compete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 of the in Tokyo, founded in 1934, and the original circuit for the sport in the Empire two years later – Japanese Baseball League (1936–1949), and continued to play even through the final years of World War II. The league that is today's NPB for Japan was formed when that sports organization reorganized in 1950, creating two leagues with six teams each in the Central League and the Pacific League with an annual season-ending Japan Series championship play-off series of games starting that year. The NPB also oversees the Western League and the Eastern League, NPB's minor leagues. Since the first Japan Series in , the Yomiuri Giants have the most championships with 22, and the most appearances with 37. Entering the 2023 season ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Professional Baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional leagues Americas United States and Canada Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ... in the United States and Canada (founded in 1869) consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until the World Series, in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of interleague play. As of 2022, the Philadelphia Phillies, founded in 1883, are the old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese People
The are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago."人類学上は，旧石器時代あるいは縄文時代以来，現在の北海道〜沖縄諸島（南西諸島）に住んだ集団を祖先にもつ人々。" () Japanese people constitute 97.9% of the population of the country of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 129 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 122.5 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live outside Japan are referred to as , the Japanese diaspora. Depending on the context, the term may be limited or not to mainland Japanese people, specifically the Yamato (as opposed to Ryukyuan and Ainu people). Japanese people are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world. In recent decades, there has also been an increase in the number of multiracial people with both Japanese and non-Japanese roots, including half Japanese people. History Theories of origins Archaeological evidence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2009 World Baseball Classic
The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference tiebreakers, the first two rounds of the 2009 edition were modified double-elimination format. The modification was that the final game of each bracket was winner-take-all, even if won by the team emerging from the loser's bracket, although that game only affected seeding, as two teams always advanced from each bracket. The biggest surprise in the first round was the Netherlands, which twice defeated the Dominican Republic in Pool D to advance. The second round saw the two Pool A teams (South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 League Baseball (MLB). It was proposed to the IBAF by Major League Baseball (MLB), the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world. It is one of the two main senior baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, but the only one which grants to the winner the title of "World Champion". It previously coexisted with Olympic baseball (until 2008) and the Baseball World Cup (until 2011) as IBAF-sanctioned tournaments. The final men's Baseball World Cup was held in 2011, and was discontinued in 2013, after an MLB suggestion to reorganize the international baseball calendar, WBSC accepted the suggestion after an executive meeting, giving the "World Champio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called " runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). The principal objective of the batting team is to have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On-base Percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a true percentage. Generally defined as "how frequently a batter reaches base per plate appearance", OBP is specifically calculated as the ratio of a batter's times on base (the sum of hits, bases on balls, and times hit by pitch) to the sum of at bats, bases on balls, hit by pitch, and sacrifice flies. OBP does not credit the batter for reaching base on fielding errors, fielder's choice, uncaught third strikes, fielder's obstruction, or catcher's interference. OBP is added to slugging average (SLG) to determine on-base plus slugging (OPS). The OBP of all batters faced by one pitcher or team is referred to as "on-base against". On-base percentage is calculable for professional teams dating back to the first year of National ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interleague Play (NPB)
, officially titled Nippon Life Interleague Play for event sponsor Nippon Life, is an event consisting of 108 regular-season baseball games played between Central League (CL) and Pacific League (PL) teams in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Prior to 2005, matchups between CL and PL teams occurred only during spring training, the All-Star Series, a short-lived exhibition tournament called the Suntory Cup, and the Japan Series. Central League teams were reluctant to implement regular-season interleague play as it would reduce the money generated from games played against the Yomiuri Giants, the hugely popular CL team that generates the most money in Japanese baseball. However, during the 2004 NPB realignment, the merger of two PL teams that were struggling financially, the rumor of a second PL team merger, and talks of contracting and restructuring the two-league system into one ten-team league prompted the suggestion of interleague play as a possible solution. Team repres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nippon Professional Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
The is an annual Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) award given to two outstanding players, one each for the Central League (CL) and Pacific League (PL). Each league's award is voted on by national baseball writers. Each voter selects three players: a first-place selection is given five points, a second-place selection three points, and a third-place selection one point. The award goes to the player who receives the most overall points. The winners are announced every year in November during Nippon Professional Baseball's awards ceremony called NBP Awards. The first recipient of the award was Eiji Sawamura. The most recent winners, in 2020, are Tomoyuki Sugano, from the Central League, and Yuki Yanagita, from the Pacific League. In 1940, Victor Starffin became the first player to win the award consecutively and multiple times. Eiji Sawamura and Kazuhisa Inao are the youngest players to receive the awards in 1937 and 1957, respectively, at the ages of 20. In 1988, Hiromitsu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
