Japanese Baseball Cards: RIP Kojiro Ikegaya

Monday, November 2, 2026

RIP Kojiro Ikegaya

The news broke late last week that former Hiroshima Toyo Carp pitcher Kojiro Ikegaya passed away from multiple myeloma at age 74.

Ikegaya joined the Kanazashi Shipbuilding industrial league team after graduating from high school and played for the team for two years. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 1971 draft by the Kintetsu Buffaloes but refused to sign. Kazazashi Shipbuilding decided to disband their team at the end of that year and Ikegaya transferred to Nippon Gakki (which is now Yamaha). He played for the Japanese team in the IBAF Amateur Baseball Championship in 1972 and drew some interest from the Pittsburgh Pirates although nothing ever came of it. He was the first pick of the Carp in the 1972 draft and, while he signed with them, he didn't actually join the team until the end of 1973. The reason for this was that the Flyers had drafted another Nippon Gakki pitcher - Satoshi Niimi - and the team objected to losing two key players at the same time.

He debuted with the Carp in 1974 and really came into his own the following year, going 18-11 while helping the team win their first ever Central League pennant. He followed that up with an even better year in 1976, going 20-15 with a league leading 207 strikeouts. He won the Sawamura Award that year. He led the league in strikeouts again in 1977 although his record dropped to 11-16.

He spent the next few seasons as a solid member of the Carp's starting rotation, helping them to back-to-back Nippon Series championships against the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1979 and 1980. He hurt his shoulder in 1982 and never really recovered from it. His playing time with the top team decreased over the next couple seasons and he retired in 1985.

He made the All Star team twice (1975 & 1976) and won both the Best 9 (for pitcher) and Best Pitcher awards in 1976. On the negative side, he gave up an NPB record 48 home runs in 1977.

After retiring he coached for Carp from 1989 to 1992 and for the Giants from 1998 to 2001 and again in 2004. He was also a baseball commentator on both TV and radio.

Ikegaya's first baseball cards were in the 1974/75 Calbee set and he showed up in various sets from Calbee, Yamakatsu, NST and Takara during his playing days. He also appeared regularly in various OB sets from BBM and Epoch over the past 20 years or so. Here's a bunch of his cards: