is a retired

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional baseball player. He currently is a coach for the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current n ...

. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Ishii was regarded as one of the best Japanese shortstops of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Though late in his career his stats declined due to age, he still contributed with his precise fielding and solid batting abilities, as well as his veteran leadership. Ishii entered the professional leagues with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales, and played with the franchise for most of his career. (The team changed its name to the

Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current ...

in 1993.)

Biography

Ishii joined the Yokohama Taiyo Whales from outside the draft in 1988. His uniform number was 66. He played as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

during his early career, and marked his first professional victory in 1989. He also got a hit in his first victory. Ishii compiled a record of 1-4, with a 5.69 ERA in his three years as a pitcher. Ishii converted to the infield in 1992. He became the team's regular

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

the same year. The team changed its name to the

in 1993, and Ishii changed his uniform number to 0. He played a full season at third base, batting second. He won the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

Golden Glove award and led the league in steals. He changed his number to 5 in 1994. He played in the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

for the first time in 1995. He switched from third base to shortstop in 1996. He was an all-star for five consecutive seasons from 1997 to 2001. Ishii began to bat lead-off in 1997. He received a Best Nine Award as the best shortstop in the Central League in 1997. He would receive this award for five consecutive years, until 2001. The Yokohama Baystars won the Central League pennant, as well as the Japan Championship Series in 1998 (38 years after their last championship in 1960). Ishii led the league in steals and hits, and received his fourth Golden Glove award at shortstop. He led the league in steals for three consecutive seasons (1998~2000). In 1999 he marked 1,000 career hits, 1,000 games played, and 200 career steals. Ishii led the league in hits for the second time in his career in 2001. Ishii went into a huge slump in 2003, getting fewer than 100 hits in a season for the first time since 1992. He reversed his slump in 2004, matching his career high in home runs. He started every single game in 2005, batting first and playing shortstop. He also played in every inning. In 2006, he played in every inning of all 146 season games for the second year in a row. He also tied his career high for single-season hits. Ishii got his 2,000th career hit on May 11, 2006, in his first

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

against the

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping ...

."Takuro Ishii Hits 2,000th,"
JapaneseBaseball.com (May 12, 2006). He was the 34th player in Japanese baseball — and the second player who has a win as a pitcher — to reach the milestone. As a result, he automatically became a member of Meikyukai, one of the two Japanese baseball halls of fame. Ishii had knee surgery during the 2006 off-season, and was removed from a game on April 1, ending his full-inning play record at 339 games (second most among active players). After spending 19 seasons with the Whales/BayStars, Ishii moved to the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

in 2009. After retiring following the 2012 season, he became a coach for the Carp.

Personal life

Ishii's wife is FujiTV announcer Shiori Arase. He has two children, born in 2002 and 2005. His former wife is Azusa Senou, who was a member of

CoCo Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...

. They were married from 1996 to 2000, but she left him because he frequently cheated on her with other women. One famous example occurred in 2000 when well-known NHK announcer Yumiko Udo was photographed coming out of Takuro's apartment in the early hours of the morning disguised wearing a wig. His daughter is professional tennis player Sayaka Ishii.

Awards

*Best Nine Award: 1997~2001 (shortstop) *Golden Glove Award: 1993~1995 (third base), 1998 (shortstop) *All-Star: 1995, 1997–2001 *2000th hit: May 11, 2006

References

External links

Nippon Professional Baseball statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Takuro 1970 births Living people Baseball people from Tochigi Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Yokohama Taiyō Whales players Yokohama BayStars players Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches