Four NPB teams will have a new manager in the dugout next spring. Last spring Akihiro Yano of the Tigers had said he would step down as manager at the end of the season and the Tigers recently announced he would be replaced by Akinobu Okada, who had previously managed the team from 2004 to 2008. Hatsuhiko Tsuji of the Lions similarly announced recently that he was going to quit at the end of the season which arrived today for Seibu at the hands of the Hawks in the First Stage of the Climax Series. Tsuji will be replaced by Kazuo Matsui who was the team's head coach this past season after spending three years as the farm team manager. At the end of the regular season last weekend both Shinji Sasaoka and Tadahito Iguchi - managers of the Carp and Marines respectively - announced their resignations as well. Former Hiroshima slugger Takahiro Arai will take over for Sasaoka while Iguchi will be replaced by the Marines' pitching coach Masato Yoshii.
With Tsuji and Iguchi stepping down, the longest tenured manager in NPB is Tatsunori Hara of the Giants who has been at the helm of the team since 2019 (although this is his third stint as manager of Yomiuri - he previously managed the team from 2002-03 and 2006-15).
Here are cards of all four managers in their team's uniform - Okada from his 2004 managerial debut, Matsui from his first year as Lions' farm team manager (the year after he retired as a player), and Arai and Yoshii from their final seasons playing (Yoshii made the last four starts of his career as a Marine in 2007):
 |
| 2004 Shukan Baseball 1-1/3 |
 |
| 2019 Epoch Lions Stars & Legends #09 |
 |
| 2018 Epoch NPB #237 |
 |
| 2007 SCM #88 |
No comments:
Post a Comment