was a Japanese professional baseball infielder, coach, and manager. He spent all of his playing career with the

Nishitetsu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiar ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

, and served as player-manager of the team from 1962 to 1969. Nakanishi also managed the

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

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri G ...

, and

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

. He coached for the Swallows,

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Sta ...

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 h ...

, and

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

Playing career

Nakanishi began playing baseball in junior high school. At the time, his team did not have any baseball equipment. The group practiced side by side with the American soldiers stationed in Japan after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Nakanishi and his teammates would pick up and practice with baseballs military personnel had left behind. During his high school baseball career, Nakanishi played in the

Japanese High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', ...

three times. He had planned to attend

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

, but his parents negotiated Nakanishi's first contract with the

without his consent. He hit 12 home runs in his rookie season and subsequently decided to hone his power stroke. Due to his small build, Nakanishi had to twist and contort his body during at bats to generate power. He came close to the Triple Crown in four seasons, (1953, 1955, 1956, 1958) but never won. In 1953, Isami Okamoto led the league in hits, while Nakanishi finished second. In 1955, Nakanishi lost the RBI title to Kazuhiro Yamauchi. The next year, he finished second in batting average to teammate Yasumitsu Toyoda. In 1958, Takao Katsuragi denied Nakanishi the RBI title for the second time. Nakanishi was spiked during the 1959 season, and suffered tendonitis in his wrist in 1960. He played through the wrist injury in a bid to improve his arm strength. However, both injuries sapped his effectiveness as a player and he succeeded Tokuji Kawasaki as Lions' manager in 1962, playing the field occasionally until 1969.

Personal life and death

For most of his own playing career, Nakanishi was managed by

Osamu Mihara was a professional Japanese baseball player and manager. External links

* 1911 births 1984 deaths Baseball people from Kagawa Prefecture Waseda University alumni Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Yom ...

. Nakanishi married Mihara's daughter Toshiko in 1956. Nakanishi died of heart failure on May 11, 2023, at the age of 90."怪童"中西太さん死去、90歳心不全本塁打王5回、3球団で監督、イチローら育てた名伯楽

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakanishi, Futoshi 1933 births 2023 deaths Baseball people from Kagawa Prefecture Nishitetsu Lions players Hanshin Tigers managers Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters managers Tokyo Yakult Swallows managers Chiba Lotte Marines managers Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Japanese baseball players Baseball player-managers Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners Sportspeople from Takamatsu, Kagawa