(1904–1995) is 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 ...

manager and

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

. He was involved in various iterations of

Japanese professional baseball Professional baseball in Japan first started in the 1920s, but it was not until the was established in 1934 that the modern professional game had continued success. History Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson, and its firs ...

from 1929 through 1959.

Early life

Born in

Taiwan under Japanese rule The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu, Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Province, Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki a ...

, Yokozawa graduated from

Meiji University is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...

Baseball career

Pre WW2

He umpired for Japan's nascent professional league in the years 1929-1935; he also helped the Tokyo-based team to four victories in Japan's

Intercity baseball tournament The intercity baseball tournament (都市対抗野球大会 ''Toshi Taikō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Summer All-star or Mid-Summer Classic " (真夏の球宴 ''manatsu no kyūen''), is an annual nationwide industrial baseba ...

. At the beginning of the

Japanese Baseball League The was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball. The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine le ...

(JBL), Yokozawa managed the Tokyo Senators in 1936–1937. Yokozawa played second base for the team in one game in 1937, and had one plate appearance. Leaving managing, Yokozawa became an umpire in the JBL in 1938, working in that capacity through the 1944 season. Meanwhile, his old team the Senators, after a number of ownership and name changes, disbanded following the 1943 season.

Post WW2

In 1946, Yokozawa looked to revive the franchise and soon founded the new Senators. He assembled a team of ready and able players, but as a newly formed team the Senators faced strict fiscal management and resorted to using hand-me-down uniforms from the Hankyu Railway's pre-war team, the Hankyu Club (who would eventually become the modern-day

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

). Former Japanese statesman Kinkazu Saionji, grandson of the influential Kinmochi Saionji, became the team's owner, and Noboru Oride, borrowing heavily from a

Ginza Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo ...

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

proprietor, became the team's sponsor. Trapped by a lack of funds, Yokozawa was forced to resign as the team's manager after one season. Returning again to umpiring, Yokozawa remained in that position until 1959. When the JBL reorganized into

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 ...

in 1950, Yokozawa was named umpire-in-chief of the

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, 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 a ...

division.

Honors

Yokozawa was elected by the Special Committee 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 1988.

References

1904 births 1995 deaths Baseball umpires Nishitetsu Baseball Club players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters managers Managers of baseball teams in Japan Meiji University alumni {{Japan-baseball-bio-stub