Kazuhiro Kiyohara

Kazuhiro Kiyohara
Infielder
Born: (1967-08-18) August 18, 1967
Batted: Right Threw: Right
NPB debut
April 5, 1986, for the Seibu Lions
Last appearance
October 1, 2008, for the Orix Buffaloes
NPB statistics
(through 2008)
Batting average .273
Hits 2122
HRs 525
RBIs 1,530
Teams

As Player

Career highlights and awards
  • 18× NPB All-Star (1986–1998, 2000–2002, 2005, 2006)
  • 3× Best Nine Award (1988, 1990, 1992)
  • 5× Golden Glove Award (1988, 1990, 1992–1994)

Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原 和博, Kiyohara Kazuhiro, born August 18, 1967 in Kishiwada, Osaka) is a former professional baseball player in Japan, having played in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league for 23 seasons. He retired following the 2008 season.

Biography

Kazuhiro Kiyohara became a household name in Japan as a home run hitter for the Osaka PL Gakuen high school baseball team in the mid-1980s.[1] His team won two Japanese High School Baseball Championships, finished second twice, and was fourth on one occasion. (There are spring and summer national high school baseball tournaments annually in Japan, held at the famous Koshien Stadium.)

Kiyohara was one part of a dominant duo on his high school team with his teammate, pitcher Masumi Kuwata. They became known in the popular vernacular of the time as the "K-K Combi", which stood for the Kiyohara and Kuwata combination. They were widely respected as high school players, and their individual and team accomplishments became memorable parts of the history of schoolboy baseball in Japan.

Kiyohara was selected by the Seibu Lions with their first pick of the 1985 draft. This was reportedly a huge disappointment for him because the Yomiuri Giants, the most popular NPB team of the day, had promised to choose him in the draft. However, the Giants decided to take Masumi Kuwata with their initial pick in '85, instead of Kiyohara, which made for great theater in the Japanese mass media at the time.[2]

His rookie season with the Seibu Lions produced a .304 average with 31 home runs and 78 RBIs. He tied the rookie HR record for Japanese professional baseball, and all three previously mentioned statistics were the best totals for a rookie in his first professional season out of high school. He became a top cleanup hitter for the Lions in his eleven seasons with the club, accumulating 332 HRs and 915 RBIs. During his time in a Lions uniform, the team won six Japan Series titles.

Kiyohara qualified for free agency after the 1996 season and signed with the Yomiuri Giants, fulfilling a childhood dream. With the Giants, Kiyohara had some outstanding seasons playing alongside many star players, including future major leaguer Hideki Matsui. Kiyohara suited up for the Giants through the 2005 season (one in which he collected his 500th home run and 2,000th hit), and was an integral part of their 2000 and 2002 Japan Series championship squads.[3]

An aging Kiyohara moved from the Giants to the Orix Buffaloes for the final three seasons of his career, calling it quits at the end of the 2008 campaign. He appeared in only 89 games for the Buffaloes, citing various physical ailments for his inactivity.

Despite his many accomplishments, Kiyohara could not escape heavy criticism during the final ten seasons of his career due to a long list of injuries that forced him to miss considerable chunks of almost every season. From 1999–2008, he played in 100 or more games only twice (2001 and 2003), while being paid the equivalent of multimillion-dollar salaries each year.[4][5]

On February 2, 2016, Kiyohara was arrested for the possession of illegal drugs. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police had been investigating him for over a year.[6] On 23 February, Kiyohara was arrested after a urinalysis tested positive for stimulants.[7]

The Uncrowned King

Kiyohara is often referred as "The Uncrowned King" because he never won a major batting title, even though he was one of NPB's greatest hitters. He surpassed 2,000 hits, 500 home runs, and 1,500 RBIs, which has been accomplished by only five other legendary players (Sadaharu Oh, Katsuya Nomura, Hiromitsu Kadota, Isao Harimoto and Hiromitsu Ochiai).

Career statistics

Nippon Professional Baseball
Year Age Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI SB AVG
198619Seibu1264046612318131236786.304
198720Seibu13044466115253292338311.259
198821Seibu1304519712921031243775.286
198922Seibu1284459212622235257927.283
199023Seibu12943699134192372689411.307
199124Seibu1264487312120023210793.270
199225Seibu1294648213417036259965.289
199326Seibu1284486612015125212753.268
199427Seibu1294557812729026234935.279
199528Seibu118404639913325193642.245
199629Seibu1304876712530031248840.245
199730Yomiuri1304626511524032235950.249
199831Yomiuri1163846710314023186801.268
199932Yomiuri86263396212013113460.236
200033Yomiuri75216416410016122540.296
200134Yomiuri13446767139290292551210.298
200235Yomiuri551482447101284330.318
200336Yomiuri11434147999026186680.290
200437Yomiuri401011823201261270.228
200538Yomiuri9632142686022140520.212
200639Orix672032145701185360.222
200841Orix222204200630.182

Statistics current as of January 13, 2014

Career record

  • .272 Batting average
  • 2,118 Hits (22nd)
  • 525 Home runs (5th)
  • 1,530 RBIs (6th)
  • 1,280 Runs (9th)
  • 1,346 Ball on bases (3rd)
  • 1,955 Strikeouts (1st)
  • 196 Hit by pitch (1st)

Trivia

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/PL_Gakuen
  2. ↑ http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1005895/index.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.baywell.ne.jp/users/drlatham/baseball/news/essays/crybaby.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.japanesebaseball.com/players/player.jsp?PlayerID=5
  5. ↑ http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/orix-slugger-kiyohara-to-retire
  6. ↑ Famed slugger Kiyohara arrested for possession of stimulant drug
  7. ↑ "Tokyo cops to re-arrest Kiyohara for use of stimulant drugs". Tokyo Reporter. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.

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