Katsuya Nomura facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Katsuya Nomura野村 克也 |
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Nomura in 1959
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| Catcher / Manager | |||
| Born: June 29, 1935 Kyōtango, Kyoto, Japan |
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| Died: February 11, 2020 (aged 84) Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
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| debut | |||
| June 17, 1954, for the Nankai Hawks | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| October 3, 1980, for the Seibu Lions | |||
| NPB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .277 | ||
| Hits | 2,901 | ||
| HRs | 657 | ||
| RBIs | 1,988 | ||
| Managerial record | 1,565–1,563–76 | ||
| Winning % | .500 | ||
| Teams | |||
As player
As manager
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 1989 | ||
Katsuya Nomura (野村 克也, Nomura Katsuya) (born June 29, 1935 – died February 11, 2020) was a famous Japanese catcher and manager in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played for over 26 seasons, mostly with the Nankai Hawks. He is known as one of NPB's best offensive catchers ever.
Nomura won the Pacific League MVP Award five times. In 1965, he was the first NPB player to win the Triple Crown. He also holds the record for the second-most home runs and RBIs in NPB history.
He was a player-manager for the Hawks for eight years. He led them to a Pacific League title in 1973. After playing, he became a full-time manager. He led the Yakult Swallows to four league titles and three Japan Series championships between 1990 and 1998.
Later, he managed the Hanshin Tigers for three seasons. He also managed the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles for four seasons before he retired in 2009. As a manager, Nomura won 1,565 games. This is the fifth-highest number of wins for any manager in NPB history. He was chosen for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989.
Contents
About Katsuya Nomura
Early Life and Challenges
Nomura was born in a small fishing village called Amino, which is now part of Kyōtango. This was in Kyoto Prefecture. When he was only three years old, his father passed away. His father was serving in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Nomura grew up in a very poor family with his mother and older brother. His brother helped him go to high school.
A Long Playing Career
After finishing Mineyama High School, Nomura tried out for the Nankai Hawks in 1954. The team's manager thought he could at least be a good catcher for practice. In his first year, Nomura played in nine games but did not get any hits.
The Hawks thought about letting him go from the team. However, Nomura was given another chance. It is said that he offered to play for free to stay on the team.
Nomura played baseball for a very long time, from 1954 to 1980. This career lasted four decades! He hit 657 home runs in total. He also led the Pacific League in home runs for eight seasons in a row. His home stadium, Osaka Stadium, was quite small. This might have helped with some of his home runs. He ended his playing career with 2,901 hits.
In 1965, Nomura achieved a rare feat: he won the league's first Triple Crown. This means he led the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, all in the same season. From 1970 to 1977, he was a player and also the manager for his team. He played for 26 years, which was the longest NPB playing career until 2008.
Becoming a Successful Manager
Nomura started his 24-year managing career as a player-manager for the Hawks in 1970. During his eight years as the Hawks' manager, he led the team to win the Pacific League title in 1973.
After he stopped playing, Nomura became a full-time manager. From 1990 to 1998, he managed the Yakult Swallows. He led them to win four league titles and three Japan Series championships. While managing the Swallows, Nomura helped train their catcher, Atsuya Furuta. Under Nomura's guidance, Furuta became a very successful catcher himself.
After his time with the Yakult Swallows, Nomura managed the Hanshin Tigers from 1999 to 2001. The team finished last in the Central League for all three of those seasons. Nomura resigned from his manager role in December 2001.
After this, Nomura managed an amateur team called Shidax from 2003 to 2005. He then returned to NPB. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles had a very tough first season in 2005. They lost 90 games, which was the first time a Pacific League team had done that in 40 years. The team hired Nomura to manage them because of his experience.
Over the next four seasons, he helped the Rakuten Eagles improve a lot. In his last season with the team, the Eagles finished in second place. This was their best finish ever at that time. They made it to the Climax Series. After losing in the final stage of the 2009 Pacific League Climax Series, Nomura retired from managing. He was 74 years old.
Nomura's Lasting Legacy
During his time as a player, Pacific League games were not often shown on TV. Because of this, Nomura was sometimes less famous than other big stars like Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima from the Yomiuri Giants. Nomura felt he did not get the attention he deserved as a player.
However, over his 26-season playing career, Nomura earned many awards, titles, and records. While with the Hawks, he won five Pacific League MVP Awards. This is the most for any Pacific League player and the second-most all-time. Nomura also led the Pacific League in home runs for nine seasons, with eight of those being in a row. He won 19 Best Nine Awards as the best catcher in the league.
He finished his career with 657 home runs, 1,988 RBIs, and 2,901 hits. All of these numbers are second-highest in NPB history. He was chosen for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989.
Personal Life
Katsuya Nomura had a son, Katsunori Nomura, who also became an NPB player. Nomura remarried Sachiyo in 1978. They stayed married until her passing in 2017. His step-children are sports agents Kenny and Don Nomura. Nomura passed away from heart failure on February 11, 2020, at the age of 84.
