Hiromitsu Ochiai is a former Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 professional baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 player. He is currently manager of the Chunichi Dragons

Chunichi Dragons

The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's Nippon Professional Baseball. He is considered to be one of the most important people in the history of Japanese baseball, winning numerous batting awards and being the only player to receive the prestigious triple crown

Triple crown (baseball)

In Major League Baseball, a player earns the Triple Crown when he leads a league in three specific statistical categories. For batters, a player must lead the league in home runs, run batted in , and batting average; pitchers must lead the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average...

 batting award three times.

Biography

Ochiai was born in the town of Wakami

Wakami, Akita

Wakami was a town located in Minamiakita District, Akita, Japan.In 2003, the town had an estimated population of 7,310 and a density of 171.40 persons per km²...

 in Akita

Akita Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region of northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Akita.- History :The area of Akita has been created from the ancient provinces of Dewa and Mutsu....

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, a rice-farming area of northern Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

. Ochiai was the youngest of five children and grew up enjoying spending time in the cinema rather than on the baseball field. At Toyo University

Toyo University

Toyo University is a university with several branches in Japan, including .- Overview :...

, he quit after one year as he did not approve of the traditional way freshman players had to cater to the senior players on the team. He joined Toshiba Fuchu, a team in the Japanese industrial league, after leaving Toyo University.

In 1978, at 25 years old, the third baseman joined Lotte Orions

Chiba Lotte Marines

The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...

 after being selected in the third round of the draft

Draft (sports)

A draft is a process used in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Russia and the Philippines to allocate certain players to sports teams. In a draft, teams take turns selecting from a pool of eligible players...

. The Lotte manager did not care for his unorthodox right-handed batting style and Masaichi Kaneda

Masaichi Kaneda

is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He is one of the best known pitchers in Japanese baseball history, and is the only Japanese pitcher to have won 400 games. He was inducted in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988....

 criticized Ochiai, but Isao Harimoto

Isao Harimoto

Isao Harimoto is a Korean former Nippon Professional Baseball player and holder of the record for most hits in the Japanese professional leagues. An ethnic Korean, his birth name is Jang Hun...

 supported Ochiai and Ochiai did not quit. From 1981, Ochiai played a regular role for his team, and in 1982 he won his first triple crown batting title. He also won the Triple crown in 1985 and 1986, and continued winning titles through 1991.

In 1987, Ochiai was traded to the Chunichi Dragons

Chunichi Dragons

The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...

 by the Lotte Orions

Chiba Lotte Marines

The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...

. During the 1994 season, the Yomiuri Giants

Yomiuri Giants

The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...

 picked up Ochiai as a free agent. After the Giants signed Kazuhiro Kiyohara

Kazuhiro Kiyohara

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:...

 in 1997, Ochiai joined the Nippon Ham Fighters at the age of 43. At the conclusion of the 1998 sesason, Ochiai retired.

Ochiai's style is called Oreryu(オレ流). Oreryu means "to do with only my style." The word described how he acted according to his personal philosophies.

Hiromitsu Ochiai has been the manager of the Chunichi Dragons since 2004. He led the Dragons to the Japan Series

Japan Series

, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....

 during his inaugural year as manager in 2004, again in 2006, and led them to victory on the third try in 2007. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Awards and Accomplishments

• MVP (1982, 1985)
• Triple Crown (1982, 1985, 1986)
• Batting Title (1981~1983, 1985, 1986)
• Home run Title (1982, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991)
• Run batted in Title (1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990)
• On-base percentage Title (1982, 1985~1988, 1990, 1991)
• Best Nine Award (1981~1986, 1988~1991)
• Matsutaro Shoriki Award (2007)

Career batting statistics

YEAR	Team Team A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team...	Number Squad number In team sports, the squad number, shirt number, jersey number, sweater number, uniform number or simply a number is the number worn on a player's uniform, to identify and distinguish each player from others wearing the same or similar uniforms...	G Games played Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,...	PA Plate appearance In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance each time he completes a turn batting. A player completes a turn batting when: He strikes out or is declared out before reaching first base; or He reaches first base safely or is awarded first base ; or He hits a fair ball which...	AB At bat In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...	R Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...	H	2B Double (baseball) In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....	3B Triple (baseball) In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....	HR Home run In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...	TB Total bases In baseball statistics, total bases refers to the number of bases a player has gained with hits, i.e., the sum of his hits weighted by 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run.Only bases attained from hits count toward this total....	RBI Run batted in Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...	SB Stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...	CS Caught stealing In baseball, a runner is charged, and the fielders involved are credited, with a time caught stealing when the runner attempts to advance or lead off from one base to another without the ball being batted and then is tagged out by a fielder while making the attempt...	SB	SF Sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:* There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.* The ball is hit to the outfield....	BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...	HBP Hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch , or hit batsman , is a batter or his equipment being hit in some part of his body by a pitch from the pitcher.-Official rule:...	K Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....	DP Double play In baseball, a double play for a team or a fielder is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. In baseball slang, making a double play is referred to as "turning two"....	ERR Error (baseball) In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ...	AVG Batting average Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...	OBP	SLG	OPS On-base plus slugging On-base plus slugging is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player to both get on base and to hit for power, two important hitting skills, are represented. An OPS of .900 or higher in Major League...
1979	Lotte Orions Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...	6	36	69	64	7	15	3	1	2	26	7	1	0	0	0	4	1	12	2	1	.234	.290	.406	.696
1980			57	188	166	28	47	7	0	15	99	32	1	0	2	2	17	1	23	5	5	.283	.349	.596	.946
1981			127	502	423	69	138	19	3	33	262	90	6	3	1	4	68	6	55	17	9	.326	.423	.619	1.043
1982			128	552	462	86	150	32	1	32	280	99	8	2	0	4	81	5	58	11	7	.325	.428	.606	1.034
1983			119	497	428	79	142	22	1	25	241	75	6	5	0	3	64	2	52	14	7	.332	.419	.563	.982
1984			129	562	456	89	143	17	3	33	265	94	8	1	0	4	98	4	33	14	16	.314	.436	.581	1.017
1985			130	568	460	118	169	21	1	52	351	146	5	1	0	4	101	3	40	16	19	.367	.481	.763	1.244
1986			123	522	417	98	150	11	0	50	311	116	5	1	0	1	101	3	59	15	10	.360	.487	.746	1.232
1987	Chunichi Dragons Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...		125	519	432	83	143	33	0	28	260	85	1	4	0	4	81	2	51	10	9	.331	.435	.602	1.037
1988			130	557	450	82	132	31	1	32	261	95	3	4	0	6	98	3	70	11	10	.293	.418	.580	.998
1989			130	559	476	78	153	23	1	40	298	116	4	3	1	6	75	1	69	11	6	.321	.410	.626	1.036
1990			131	570	458	93	133	19	1	34	256	102	3	3	0	8	100	4	87	7	7	.290	.416	.559	.975
1991			112	478	374	80	127	17	0	37	255	91	4	2	0	5	95	4	55	9	5	.340	.473	.682	1.155
1992			116	481	384	58	112	22	1	22	202	71	2	3	0	6	88	3	74	12	3	.292	.425	.526	.948
1993			119	504	396	64	113	19	0	17	183	65	1	2	0	8	96	4	69	13	4	.285	.423	.462	.885
1994	Yomiuri Giants Yomiuri Giants The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...	60	129	540	447	53	125	19	0	15	189	68	0	0	0	6	81	6	56	13	8	.280	.393	.423	.815
1995		6	117	483	399	64	124	15	1	17	192	65	1	0	0	8	73	3	87	17	5	.311	.414	.481	.895
1996			106	448	376	60	113	18	0	21	194	86	3	0	0	2	67	3	53	11	6	.301	.408	.516	.924
1997	Nippon Ham Fighters Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at the Sapporo Dome. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō,...	3	113	466	397	35	104	14	0	3	127	43	3	0	0	5	61	3	60	16	3	.262	.361	.320	.680
1998			59	192	162	11	38	6	0	2	50	18	0	1	0	2	26	2	22	12	0	.235	.344	.309	.652
Total			2236	9257	7627	1335	2371	371	15	510	4302	1564	65	35	4	88	1475	63	1135	236	140	.311	.422	.564	.987

External links