2012 Hall Of Fame Class

The 2012 inductees for the Japanese Baseball Hall Of Fame were announced last week and both players elected from the Player's Division were former Hiroshima Toyo Carp pitchers - Manabu Kitabeppu and Tsunemi Tsuda.

Kitabeppu pitched for the Carp for 19 seasons from 1976 to 1994, winning 213 games.  He and Kimiyasu Kudoh are the last two pitchers in NBP to reach 200 wins.   He won the Sawamura Award in 1982 and 1986 and was also Central League MVP in 1986.

1989 Lotte #82

2008 BBM Hiroshima Memorial Set #19 - this commemorates Kitabeppu
getting his 198th victory, passing Ryohei Hasegawa (shown with him)
for most career wins by a Carp pitcher.

Tsuda pitched for the Carp from 1982 to 1991, although health issues limited him to only six games total in his last two seasons.  He was Rookie Of The Year in 1982.  After a couple of seasons as a starter, he converted to relief and became the team's closer from 1986-1989.  He passed away from a brain tumor in 1993.

1984 Takara Carp #15

2008 BBM Hiroshima Memorial Set #22 - this picture was not taken on
July 20, 1993 - that was the day Tsuda passed away, 12 days short of his
33rd birthday

NOTE - I realized a couple of days after posting this that Masahiro Yamamoto had reached 200 wins also since Kitabeppu did, so I thought I should retract the comment altogether in case I missed someone else.