I apologize for getting a little behind in this countdown. We move into the Top 10 All Time Home Run Leaders with Koichi Tabuchi, who hit 474 home runs during his 16 year career for the Hanshin Tigers and Seibu Lions.
He was drafted by the Tigers in the first round of the 1969 draft (which occurred in 1968) (2007 BBM Draft Story #039):
He spent the next ten years with the Tigers (1976 Mitsuya Medium Disks):
1977 Yamakatsu Photo Wrapper (JY4):
He was traded to the Lions following the 1978 season in a six player deal that included Akinobu Mayumi going from the Lions to the Tigers. The Lions had just been bought by Seibu and he was acquired to show that the new ownership was committed to winning. (1981 Calbee #50):
Tabuchi retired following the 1984 season. He managed the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks from 1990 through 1992 (1991 BBM #43):
Most recently, he was a coach for the 2008 Japanese Olympic Baseball Team (2008 BBM Japan National Team #JPN02):
(The card at the top of this post is 2002 BBM 2nd Version #832)
2 comments:
Two comments - first, I wanted to thank you for such a great website. I do biographies at Baseball-Reference's Bullpen section of NPB players and it's nice to know what these folks look like. I've been posting some of these cards over on the player bios to help expand them. Second, I wanted to thank you for the links to some of the bios I've written. It helps me feel like I'm contributing something to the baseball research world.
- Mischa Gelman
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the Baseball Reference bios - they've been great.
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