was a

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 ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player of 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 ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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 ...

. He was one of the most famous

ese right-handed

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, ...

s. He was known as the because from his pitching style with the

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

. His nickname was "Tsune-Gon"(ツネゴン). He was born in

Shūnan file:Tokuyama district Shunan city Aerial photograph.2008.jpg, 270px, Shūnan city center is a Cities of Japan, city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 137,019 in 6828 households and a population density o ...

, Yamaguchi. He retired in 1991, and died of

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

in 1993, when he was 32 years old. His memorial plate, found at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, is inscribed with the words "We will never forget about his fastball, smile, courage and bravery". He led his team in two Japan Series and won one title (1984).

Career

*1st pitch: April 10, 1982. *1st win: April 29, 1982. *

Rookie of the Year Award A Rookie of the Year award or ROY is given by a number of sports leagues to the top-performing athlete in his or her first season within the league. Athletes competing for the first time in any given league are also known as "rookies". Principal ...

winner: 1982 * Comeback Player of the Year Award winner: 1986 *Best Pitcher of

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 ...

Award winner: 1986 *Relief Man of the Year Award winner: 1989 *Japan

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 ...

: 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989 *49 W, 90 S, 19 CG, 2

Shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

and 542 K.

Statistics

Honours

*The minor planet 79254 Tsuda was named in his memory on June 1, 2007.

Media

Books

* Just One More Pitch - The Fastball Life of Red-Hot Reliever Tsuda Tsunemi () - NHK Books (1994) * The Last Strike (two years and three months with Tsuda Tsunemi) () - Keibunsha (1995)

Documentary and Drama

* Just One More Pitch: The Fastball Life of Red-Hot Reliever Tsuda Tsunemi -

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

(1994) * The Last Strike -

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

(2000)

References

External links

NHK archives: NHK Special: Just One More Pitch: The Fastball Life of Red-Hot Reliever Tsuda Tsunemi
(Japanese)

(Japanese) * (Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuda, Tsunemi 1960 births 1993 deaths Baseball people from Yamaguchi Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Nippon Professional Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Deaths from brain cancer in Japan Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees