, also known as Kazuto Yamamoto, was a Japanese former

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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

infielder and manager in the Japan Baseball League (JBL) and

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 ...

(NPB). Tsuruoka played for the same franchise in 1939, and from 1946 to 1952, which during his career changed names from the Nankai Club to Kinki Great Ring, and ultimately to the

Nankai 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. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

. (Tsuruoka did not play professional baseball from 1940 to 1945.) In 1939 he won the JBL home run title with 10. Returning to the JBL 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 ...

, in 1946 he won the JBL Most Valuable Player Award, repeating the feat in 1948. His team won the JBL championship both those years. In 1949, he was named player-manager of the Hawks. His playing career ended after the 1952 season, but he stayed on as the team's manager through the 1968 season, guiding the team to

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...

championships in 1959 and 1964. His managerial record overall was 1773–1140, for a winning percentage of .609. Tsuruoka was elected by the Selection Committee for the Players to the

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The , commonly known outside of Japan as the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, is a hall of fame and museum in Tokyo dedicated to professional baseball, with a prominent focus on professional baseball in Japan. The Hall is intended to honor and co ...

in 1965.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuruoka, Kazuto 1916 births 2000 deaths Baseball people from Hiroshima Prefecture category:Hosei University alumni Japanese baseball players Nankai Hawks players category:Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners Sportspeople from Kure, Hiroshima Managers of baseball teams in Japan category:Baseball player-managers Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks managers Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees