8th to 500
Yesterday, Friday in Japan, Kazuhiro Kiyohara 清原和博 became the 8th player to hit 500 career home runs in the NPB. Leading off the 8th inning, Kiyohara connected against Koji Hiroike of the Carp. The Giants also received blasts from Hiroki Kokubo 小久保裕紀 and Shinnosuke Abe 阿部 慎之助 to snap a 7 game losing streak. Despite the win, the Giants still remain in last and trail the Dragons by 7 games. The win was also the first of the year against the Carp and helped wash away the bad taste of the season opening series when the Carp swept the Giants in Tokyo.
posted by nhw at 11:37 PM
2 Comments:
Kiyohara is 37 and is in his 20th season. At he start of this year he was 8th all time with 492 hrs. Probably the best he can do is reach 4th, which might be a stretch as he would need 37 more. He missed most of last season with a broken hand and there was strong talk that the Giants did not want to bring him back as many feel he is blocking the opportunities of others at first base, though they did sign him to a 1 year deal.
Career Home Runs:
Sadaharu Oh 868
Katsuya Nomura 657
Hiromitsu Kadota567
Koji Yamamoto 536
As you can see 500 is impressive, just like in MLB but at the same time there is a big difference between 500 and the top couple spots.
What's amazing is Oh only played 22 seasons, hitting 39, 33 and 30 in his last three years. As well, he hit a home run every 10 at bats!
Oh played his entire career with the Giants, from 1959 - 1980.
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