Koji Akiyama (秋山 幸二 Akiyama Kōji, born April 6, 1962) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. He played for the Seibu Lions and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (currently the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Koji Akiyama
秋山 幸二
Outfielder / Manager
Born: (1962-04-06) April 6, 1962 (age 62)
Miyahara, Kumamoto, Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
NPB debut
September 29, 1981, for the Seibu Lions
Last appearance
October 6, 2002, for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
NPB statistics
Batting average.270
Home runs437
Hits2,157
Runs batted in1,321
Stolen bases303
Teams
As player

As coach

As manager

Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction2014

A speedy slugger, Akiyama accumulated more than 400 career home runs and 300 career stolen bases, a feat matched only by one other NPB player in history (Isao Harimoto). Akiyama was an integral part of the "Invincible Seibu" during the 1980s and 1990s, named such due to their sustained domination of the league, winning 11 league championships and eight Japan Series championships between 1982–1994. (Akiyama left Seibu after the 1993 season.) On July 13, 1989, Akiyama hit for the cycle.

Akiayma was a Best Nine Award-winner eight times, a Golden Glove winner 11 times (1987–1996, 1999), and appeared in 18 consecutive Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series (1985–2002), an NPB record. In addition, Akiyama was Japan Series MVP twice (1991 and 1999), and a Matsutaro Shoriki Award-winner three times (1991, 2011, and 2014). (He also struck out 1,712 times, third on the all-time list.) Akiyama was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.[1] He is also a member of Meikyukai (the Golden Players Club).

He replaced Sadaharu Oh on October 8, 2008 as manager of the Hawks, serving as the team's manager through 2014.

Career statistics

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Year Team Squad
number
G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI SB BB+HBP SO BA
1981 Seibu Lions 71 3 5 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 2 .200
1982 24 Played at San Jose Bees to train
1983 Played at San Jose Bees to train
1984 54 140 16 33 5 2 4 54 14 6 13 32 .236
1985 130 468 93 118 16 0 40 254 93 17 70 115 .252
1986 130 492 88 132 19 3 41 280 115 21 63 94 .268
1987 1 130 496 82 130 13 2 43 276 94 38 51 102 .262
1988 130 517 93 151 23 2 38 292 103 20 58 132 .292
1989 130 478 92 144 24 4 31 269 99 31 73 93 .301
1990 130 476 84 122 16 0 35 243 91 51 73 120 .256
1991 116 455 97 135 23 3 35 269 88 21 55 96 .297
1992 130 480 92 142 26 2 31 265 89 13 83 114 .296
1993 127 470 67 116 23 4 30 237 72 9 65 136 .247
1994 Daiei Hawks 129 473 93 120 26 5 24 228 73 26 90 125 .254
1995 122 476 61 127 25 1 21 217 66 13 48 101 .264
1996 121 466 53 140 27 0 9 194 66 13 41 78 .300
1997 97 371 46 91 20 2 12 151 52 11 47 62 .245
1998 115 423 43 110 32 4 10 180 49 7 46 76 .260
1999 113 386 41 99 16 2 12 155 44 3 30 83 .256
2000 124 427 44 112 23 1 5 152 48 2 51 63 .262
2001 82 269 31 77 13 3 11 129 32 1 18 43 .286
2002 76 229 14 57 7 0 5 79 25 0 9 45 .249
Career Total 2189 7997 1231 2157 377 41 437 3927 1312 303 985 1712 .270

Bolded figures are league leading

Titles and accomplishments

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  • Home Run Champion : once (1987)
  • Stolen Bases Champion : once (1990)
  • Decisive RBIs Champion : 4 times (1985,1987)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Hall of Famers List | The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum". english.baseball-museum.or.jp. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
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