The Saitama Seibu Lions named Hatsuhiko Tsuji as their new manager last week. Tsuji was the second round pick of the Lions in the fall 1983 draft (Hisanobu Watanabe who managed the Lions from 2008-13 was the first round pick that year) and played for them for 12 seasons between 1984 and 1995 before moving on to the Swallows for four seasons before retiring following the 1999 season. After retiring as a player, he coached for the Swallows, Baystars and Dragons.
He was the second baseman for the Lions during much of their glory days in the 1980's and early 1990's. He played in nine Nippon Series with the Lions and won the Championship six times (and won another with the Swallows in 1997). Here's his card from the 1994 BBM Nippon Series set (#S46) showing him in his last Nippon Series with the Lions:
2 comments:
Sounds like an impressive career! Is he HOF bound?
Probably not. His career batting average was .282 with 56 home runs and 1462 hits. He did win 8 Golden Gloves and made the All Star team 9 times and the Best 9 team five times. He lead the league in batting in 1993. But I don't think his numbers are good enough for the Hall Of Fame.
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