Japanese baseball player
Baseball player
Tadahito Iguchi
|
---|
Iguchi with the Chiba Lotte Marines
|
Second baseman
/
First baseman
/
Manager
|
Born:
(
1974-12-04
)
December 4, 1974
(age 49)
Nishit?ky?, Tokyo
Japan
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
NPB:
May 3, 1997, for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
|
MLB:
April 4, 2005, for the Chicago White Sox
|
|
MLB:
September 28, 2008, for the Philadelphia Phillies
|
NPB:
September 24, 2017, for the Chiba Lotte Marines
|
|
Batting average
| .270
|
---|
Home runs
| 251
|
---|
Runs batted in
| 1,017
|
---|
|
Batting average
| .268
|
---|
Home runs
| 44
|
---|
Runs batted in
| 205
|
---|
|
---|
|
As player
As manager
|
|
|
|
Tadahito Iguchi
(
井口 資仁
,
Iguchi Tadahito
, born December 4, 1974)
, nicknamed "
Gucci
",
[1]
is a
Japanese
served
professional baseball
second baseman
and former
manager
of the
Chiba Lotte Marines
of
Nippon Professional Baseball
(NPB).
As a member of the
Chicago White Sox
in
2005
, Iguchi became the first Japanese-born position player to win the
World Series
.
Early life and amateur career
[
edit
]
Born in
Tanashi, Tokyo
, Japan as Tadahito
(
忠仁
)
, Iguchi began playing in high school and after graduating in 1993, went to
Aoyama Gakuin University
where he distinguished himself by hitting the
Tohto University Baseball League
record of eight
home runs
in a season and winning the
triple crown
. He was a member of
Japanese National Team
in
1996 Summer Olympics
that won the
silver medal
.
Professional career
[
edit
]
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
[
edit
]
He was the first pick in the 1996
draft
by
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
.
In his debut year of 1997, he hit a
grand slam
in the first game of his professional career. He suffered a shoulder injury in the 2000 season and had a surgery which ended his season. After the season ended, he changed the
Kanji
of his first name to the current one
(
資仁
)
.
[2]
He recovered fully in 2001 hitting 30
home runs
and leading the league with a personal best 44
stolen bases
. In 2003, he hit over .300, had over 100
RBI
and led the league in steals.
Chicago White Sox
[
edit
]
He left Fukuoka Daiei after the 2004 season to play for the
Chicago White Sox
. During the
2005
MLB season, he had a .278
batting average
with 15
home runs
and 15
stolen bases
. In the
2005 AL Division Series
, he hit a go-ahead 3-run home run in
Game 2
[3]
against the
Boston Red Sox
, helping the White Sox to a win on their way to a three-game ALDS sweep over Boston, and ultimately a
World Series
championship three weeks later.
In 2006, Iguchi had two multi-homer games, both times hitting a grand slam (during the May 20 game involving a
bench-clearing brawl
) and another home run.
Earlier that same year, on April 15, he made arguably the best defensive play of his career against the
Toronto Blue Jays
, falling after charging, and while fielding, a slow infield chopper hit by
Bengie Molina
.
[4]
[5]
Despite this, Iguchi would throw Molina out by plenty from his horizontal position.
Philadelphia Phillies
[
edit
]
On July 27, 2007, he was traded to the
Philadelphia Phillies
for
pitcher
Michael Dubee
. He was the first Asian-born player to join the Phillies.
[6]
San Diego Padres
[
edit
]
On December 18, 2007, Iguchi signed a one-year deal with the
San Diego Padres
.
[7]
He was released on September 1, 2008.
[8]
Second Phillies stint
[
edit
]
On September 5, 2008, Philadelphia signed Iguchi, making it the second time the team had acquired him, in less than 14 months.
[9]
Because Iguchi joined the Phillies after September 1, he was ineligible for the team's postseason roster; thus, Iguchi was not with the Phillies when they defeated the
Tampa Bay Rays
in the World Series (although he did receive a
World Series ring
).
Chiba Lotte Marines
[
edit
]
On January 19, 2009, he returned to Japan to play for the
Chiba Lotte Marines
.
[10]
[11]
Iguchi announced his retirement from baseball after the close of the 2017 season in Japan.
[12]
Coaching career
[
edit
]
On October 12, 2017, Iguchi was hired as the
manager
of the
Chiba Lotte Marines
, filling the role that was left vacant after
Tsutomu It?
stepped down from the position.
On October 2, 2022, he announced his resignation as the manager of the team.
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]