Senichi Hoshino

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Senichi Hoshino

Japan national baseball team — No.
Pitcher
Born: 1947-01-22
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Nippon Professional Baseball debut
[[]], 1969 for the Chunichi Dragons
Teams
Chunichi Dragons 1969-1982

Senichi Hoshino (星野 仙一, Hoshino Sen'ichi^?, born January 22, 1947) is a former Japanese professional baseball player and manager.

In 2003, he led the Tigers to their first Central League pennant in 18 years before retiring for health reasons. On January 25, 2007, it was announced that he would manage the Japanese national team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

[edit] Childhood

Hoshino was born as the third of three children in Kurashiki, Japan. His father died three months after he was born, and his mother raised him and his two sisters single-handedly. He played baseball throughout his high school years, but was unable to advance to the Koshien baseball tournament. He entered Meiji University, and became a starter from his first year. He marked 23 total wins in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, including one no-hitter, but his team never won the league championship. Hoshino's reputation as a hot-headed leader began in his years at Meiji University, when he and other members of the baseball team banded together to break down a barricade set up around the school by a student protest group.

[edit] Professional Career

Hoshino was drafted in the first round by the Chunichi Dragons in 1968, led by legendary manager Shigeru Mizuhara. The Yomiuri Giants had promised Hoshino that he would be their first round draft pick, but the Giants broke their promise, drafting another player instead. This betrayal made Hoshino develop a profound hatred towards the Giants, and he has battled the Giants ever since, both as a pitcher and as a manager. Hoshino signed with the Dragons in 1969, and pitched both as a starter and reliever, quickly becoming the ace of the Dragons pitching staff. He led the league in saves in 1974, and won the Sawamura Award. More importantly however, his team won the league championship, stopping the Yomiuri Giants record of consecutive league championships at 9. He was known as the "Kyojin Killer" (Giants Killer) because he seemed to pitch unusually well against the Giants. His team won another league championship in 1982, and Hoshino retired after that year. His career record was 146-121, with 34 saves.

Hoshino was an extremely popular figure during his career, not because of his skill as a pitcher, but because of his persona. Baseball fans were sick of seeing the Yomiuri Giants win the championship year after year, and Hoshino's outspoken hatred of the Giants finally gave fans a player to root for that wasn't named Shigeo Nagashima or Sadaharu Oh. Hoshino stayed with the Dragons for his entire career, and was very well respected by his teammates.

[edit] Managerial Career

Hoshino worked as a commentator for NHK after retiring, and his popularity with both fans and players called him back to the Chunichi Dragons as a manager in 1987. Hoshino made a number of big trades, and led the Dragons to a league championship in 1988. He stepped down in 1991, and returned to his job as a commentator and sports writer.

The Dragons did poorly after Hoshino's departure, and he was once again called back to lead the team in 1996. Hoshino won his second league championship in 1999, but stepped down again after his team placed 5th in 2001.

In 2002, Hoshino was called to take over as manager of the miserable Hanshin Tigers, who had been in last place for the last four years under Katsuya Nomura. He raised the team to fourth place in his first year, and made huge cuts during the off-season while recruiting free agents like Tomoaki Kanemoto and Hideki Irabu. The Tigers won the league championship in 2003; Hoshino's third championship as manager. However, he frequently fell ill during games in 2003, often leaving the head coach to manage the team while he sat quietly on the bench. He stepped down after the 2003 Japanese championship series due to health reasons, but is now the assistant senior director of the Hanshin Tigers. In 2007, he became the manager of the Japan national baseball team, which won the Asian Baseball Championship (the qualifier for the Beijing Olympics) defeating the Philippines, Korea, and Taiwan.

[edit] Praise and Criticism

Hoshino remains a controversial manager because of the way he dealt with his players. Yelling at players happened almost daily, and he would often hit players if they disobeyed him. He was often seen venting his anger by hitting benches and lockers. Whenever there was a dispute on the field, he was the first to dash out of the dugout to participate in the argument or brawl that ensued. He fined players that stayed in the dugout during a brawl. He is a ruthless manager, and is not afraid to fire or trade players, even if they are young top draft picks.

On the other hand, he is surprisingly sympathetic, always giving players a second chance, and congratulating them if they are successful (but ruthless if they are not). He is known to send birthday presents to members of the team, including lesser known members like coaches and bullpen catchers. Though he yelled and fought his way through umpires and managers from other teams, he is known for always being courteous off the field.

Because of his career as a pitcher, Hoshino is excellent at determining when a pitcher needs to be taken off the mound. He frequently uses bunting and stealing to advance base runners, and is often criticized when he makes power-hitters bunt when there are runners in scoring position.

He is sometimes accused of overusing young pitchers, ending their careers prematurely. The Dragons were called "The Pitcher's Graveyard" by other teams when Hoshino was the team's manager.

Though Hoshino has criticized the Yomiuri Giants for gathering star players with money, he himself has done the same thing with the Hanshin Tigers and in his second championship run with the Chunichi Dragons. The players he gathered during the 2002 off-season made huge contributions to the Tigers league championship won the next year. When he was manager of the Dragons, he got Jong Beom Lee and Dong Yeol Sun to come to the Japanese leagues from Korea with massive contracts.

[edit] Statistics

Pitching

• 500 Games
• 146 Wins
• 121 Losses
• 34 Saves
• 3.60 ERA

Managerial Career

• 1744 Games
• 920 Wins
• 791 Losses
• 33 Ties
• 3 League Championships

[edit] External links

• Japanesebaseball.com - Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics
• Sen'ichi Hoshino's official website (in Japanese)