Hiromitsu Ochiai

Hiromitsu Ochiai 落合 博満
Born: December 9, 1953 Yuri, Akita, Japan
Batted: Right Threw: Right
NPB debut
May 29, 1979, for the Lotte Orions
Last appearance
October 7, 1998, for the Nippon Ham Fighters
NPB statistics
Batting average	.311
Hits	2371
HRs	510
RBIs	1564
Teams
As player Lotte Orions (1979–1986) Chunichi Dragons (1987–1993) Yomiuri Giants (1994–1996) Nippon-Ham Fighters (1997–1998) As manager Chunichi Dragons (2004–2011)
Career highlights and awards
2× Pacific League MVP (1982, 1985)
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted	2011

Hiromitsu Ochiai (落合 博満 Ochiai Hiromitsu, born December 9, 1953) is a former Japanese professional baseball player. He is former manager of the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He is considered to be one of the most important people in the history of Japanese baseball, winning numerous batting awards and being the only player to receive the prestigious triple crown batting award three times. With 510 career home runs, Ochiai is sixth on the all-time NPB list.

Biography

Ochiai was born in the town of Yuri in Akita, Japan, a rice-farming area of northern Honshū. Ochiai was the youngest of seven children and grew up enjoying spending time in the cinema rather than on the baseball field. At Toyo University, he quit after one year as he did not approve of the traditional way freshman players had to cater to the senior players on the team. He joined Toshiba Fuchu, a team in the Japanese industrial league, after leaving Toyo University and went back to his home town and spent some years as a professional bowler.

In 1978, at 25 years old, the third baseman joined Lotte Orions after being selected in the third round of the draft. The Lotte manager did not care for his unorthodox right-handed batting style and Masaichi Kaneda criticized Ochiai, but Isao Harimoto supported Ochiai and Ochiai did not quit.^[1] From 1981, Ochiai played a regular role for his team, and in 1982 he won his first triple crown batting title. He also won the Triple crown in 1985 and 1986, and continued winning titles through 1991.

In 1987, Ochiai was traded to the Chunichi Dragons by the Lotte Orions. During the 1994 season, the Yomiuri Giants picked up Ochiai as a free agent. After the Giants signed Kazuhiro Kiyohara in 1997, Ochiai joined the Nippon-Ham Fighters at the age of 43. At the conclusion of the 1998 season, Ochiai retired.

Ochiai's style is called Oreryu(オレ流). Oreryu means "to do with only my style." The word described how he acted according to his personal philosophies.

Hiromitsu Ochiai has been the manager of the Chunichi Dragons since 2004. He led the Dragons to the Japan Series during his inaugural year as manager in 2004, again in 2006, and led them to victory on the third try in 2007. His contract was not renewed after leading the Dragons to within a game of winning the 2011 Japan Series.^[2] He was often criticized for his decision-making, such as removing starting pitcher Daisuke Yamai to start the ninth inning of game five of the 2007 Japan Series. Yamai had been pitching a perfect game. Closer Hitoki Iwase finished off the ninth for a rare combined perfect game to clinch the championship for the Dragons.^[3]

Ochiai was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. The Hiromitsu Ochiai Baseball Hall opened in Taiji, Wakayama in 1993 starting a trend of museums dedicated to famous ballplayers.^[4]

On October 9, 2013, Ochiai was appointed general manager of the Chunichi Dragons.^[5]

Awards and accomplishments

• MVP (1982, 1985)
• Triple Crown (1982, 1985, 1986)
• Batting Title (1981~1983, 1985, 1986)
• Home run Title (1982, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991)
• Run batted in Title (1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990)
• On-base percentage Title (1982, 1985~1988, 1990, 1991)
• Best Nine Award (1981~1986, 1988~1991)
• Matsutaro Shoriki Award (2007)

Career batting statistics

YEAR	Team	Number	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	TB	RBI	SB	CS	SB	SF	BB	HBP	K	DP	ERR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1979	Lotte Orions	6	36	69	64	7	15	3	1	2	26	7	1	0	0	0	4	1	12	2	1	.234	.290	.406	.696
1980			57	188	166	28	47	7	0	15	99	32	1	0	2	2	17	1	23	5	5	.283	.349	.596	.946
1981			127	502	423	69	138	19	3	33	262	90	6	3	1	4	68	6	55	17	9	.326	.423	.619	1.043
1982			128	552	462	86	150	32	1	32	280	99	8	2	0	4	81	5	58	11	7	.325	.428	.606	1.034
1983			119	497	428	79	142	22	1	25	241	75	6	5	0	3	64	2	52	14	7	.332	.419	.563	.982
1984			129	562	456	89	143	17	3	33	265	94	8	1	0	4	98	4	33	14	16	.314	.436	.581	1.017
1985			130	568	460	118	169	21	1	52	351	146	5	1	0	4	101	3	40	16	19	.367	.481	.763	1.244
1986			123	522	417	98	150	11	0	50	311	116	5	1	0	1	101	3	59	15	10	.360	.487	.746	1.232
1987	Chunichi Dragons		125	519	432	83	143	33	0	28	260	85	1	4	0	4	81	2	51	10	9	.331	.435	.602	1.037
1988			130	557	450	82	132	31	1	32	261	95	3	4	0	6	98	3	70	11	10	.293	.418	.580	.998
1989			130	559	476	78	153	23	1	40	298	116	4	3	1	6	75	1	69	11	6	.321	.410	.626	1.036
1990			131	570	458	93	133	19	1	34	256	102	3	3	0	8	100	4	87	7	7	.290	.416	.559	.975
1991			112	478	374	80	127	17	0	37	255	91	4	2	0	5	95	4	55	9	5	.340	.473	.682	1.155
1992			116	481	384	58	112	22	1	22	202	71	2	3	0	6	88	3	74	12	3	.292	.425	.526	.948
1993			119	504	396	64	113	19	0	17	183	65	1	2	0	8	96	4	69	13	4	.285	.423	.462	.885
1994	Yomiuri Giants	60	129	540	447	53	125	19	0	15	189	68	0	0	0	6	81	6	56	13	8	.280	.393	.423	.815
1995		6	117	483	399	64	124	15	1	17	192	65	1	0	0	8	73	3	87	17	5	.311	.414	.481	.895
1996			106	448	376	60	113	18	0	21	194	86	3	0	0	2	67	3	53	11	6	.301	.408	.516	.924
1997	Nippon Ham Fighters	3	113	466	397	35	104	14	0	3	127	43	3	0	0	5	61	3	60	16	3	.262	.361	.320	.680
1998			59	192	162	11	38	6	0	2	50	18	0	1	0	2	26	2	22	12	0	.235	.344	.309	.652
Total			2236	9257	7627	1335	2371	371	15	510	4302	1564	65	35	4	88	1475	63	1135	236	140	.311	.422	.564	.987

References

1. donga.com ["Korean Hitter with Odd Stance Meets Manager Who Had One Too." 02 Mar 2007, Dong-a Ilbo, The.]
2. Coskey, Jason."Ochiai bows out after eight years in charge of Dragons." 25 Nov 2011: Japan Times, The.
3. Coskey, Jason. "Dragons clinch Japan Series: Yamai, Iwase combine for perfect game." 02 Nov 2007: Japan Times, The.
4. Normile, Dennis. "Museum Showcases Ichiro's Baseball Career." 27 Aug 2012: New York Times, The.
5. Graczyk, Wayne. "Tanishige to become rare player-manager for Dragons." 19 October 2013: The Japan Times.

External links

• Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from Japanesebaseball.com