Very sad news out of Tokyo today -
Hanshin Tigers GM Katsuhiro Nakamura was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his hotel room. He was 66 years old.
Nakamura was drafted by the Tigers in the second round of the fall 1971 draft out of Waseda University. He spent 11 seasons with the Tigers from 1972 to 1982. He managed the Tigers farm team from 1983 to 1987 and was a coach with the ichi-gun team in 1988. After a year spent as a TV commentator, he returned to the Tigers in 1990 as their manager. He managed the team for several seasons before he was replaced in the middle of the 1995 season by Taira Fujita, only finishing once over .500 and in the first division (1992). After another couple seasons doing TV work, he became GM of the then Orix Blue Wave in 2003. He ended up taking over as manager of the now Orix Buffaloes in 2006 following the death of Akira Ohgi before stepping aside for Terry Collins after the season. He remained with Orix's front office until 2010, after which he again returned to television. In August of 2012 he was named Hanshin's GM, the first to ever hold that position for the team.
Here's some baseball cards highlighting his career:
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| 2011 BBM Legend Of Tokyo Big Six #011 |
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| 1975/76 Calbee #352 |
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| 1994 BBM Tigers #01 |
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| 2006 BBM 1st Version #109 |
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