Kazuhiro Kiyohara

nihongo|Kazuhiro Kiyohara|清原和博|"Kiyohara Kazuhiro"|born August 18, 1967 in Kishiwada, Osaka is a former first baseman in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He was drafted to the Seibu Lions before signing to the Yomiuri Giants, and he played for the Orix Buffaloes in his last years of his career. He is a friend of Masumi Kuwata. He has the nickname "Banchō" (番長)."Final Chapter Memorial Discussion: Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi." "Battle Royale". Volume 15. "Tokyopop"]

Biography

The name of Kazuhiro Kiyohara springed into fame as a young cleanup-slugger of High school baseball. With Masumi Kuwata, a pitcher of his age, he won the championship twice, took 2nd place twice, and 4th place once in the Koshien Baseball tournaments. The PL Gakuen High school they belonged to was recognized as an invincibly strong team during their belonging. Kiyohara and Kuwata were well-known as "K-K Combi" (K-K combination, or duo), which is one of the legends of High school baseball history, and was feared and respected by the other players all over the country.

He was taken by the Seibu Lions with the first pick of the 1985 draft. First, the Yomiuri Giants, one of the most popular teams then with an honorable history, promised to pick him by 1st place in the draft. But they suddenly changed their mind to picking Kuwata up instead of him. He was so disappointed at their betrayal that he shed a tear before the press, and he joined the Lions after his graduation.

His career in professional league started with the memorable record of .304 average, 31 Home Runs, and 78 RBIs. 31 HR is the rookie record for Japanese professional baseball (tied), and all three were new records for a rookie that had just graduated high school. He became the cleanup hitter for the Lions in their "Golden Age", and he finally defeated the Giants in the 1987 Japan Series. He then shed a tear again when the 9th inning came and the team neared the championship. He and his fellow Kouji Akiyama, a talented slugger with home run, fielding and stealing base skills, formed the feared "A-K cannon", and followingly "A-K-D cannon" after join of Orestes Destrade.

When he got his Free Agent rights after the 1996 season, he transferred to the Yomiuri Giants, which had been his favorite team in his childhood. After the 2005 season, he transferred again to the Orix Buffaloes. He lost half of the 2006 and the entire 2007 season because of his injured knee.

In 21st, May, 2008, when Terry Collins resigned as manager of the Orix Buffaloes, Kiyohara was expected to be one of the favourites to fill the void by many media and fans. The media reported that the Buffaloes had invited him to be the manager, or playing manager (if he were to be an active player in 2009), starting from the 2009 season, and that Kiyohara had accepted the post on May 23rd, 2008. [ [http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/top/bt200805/bt2008052300.html 来季監督に清原！オリックスが就任要請へ…選手兼任もＯＫ] Sanspo.Com] . But the team denied such news and said Kiyohara will return as a player soon. [ [http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/hl?c=npb&a=20080524-00000020-dal-base オーナー“ 清原よ、選手として復活を”] ] Kiyohara returned to the active roster on July, and spent the rest of 2008 season most as a pinch hitter. He retired as a player on October 1, 2008, which he played as a DH for 9 innings in his last game.

The Uncrowned King

Kiyohara is often referred as "The Uncrowned King", because though he is considered by many to be one of the greatest sluggers in Japanese baseball history, he has never won a major batting title (Batting Champion, RBI Champion, or Home Run Champion). Throughout his career, Kiyohara has batted over 2,000 hits, 500 home runs, 1,500 RBIs, which has been accomplished by only five other legendary players (Sadaharu Oh, Katsuya Nomura, Hiromitsu Kadota, Isao Harimoto and Hiromitsu Ochiai). Despite his impressive career totals he was unable to win any major batting titles, though he had finished in second place several times for each. However, it should be noted that in 1986 he had been awarded Rookie Of The Year, and in the same year he had also led in on base percentage.

Career Record (Until 2007 season)

*.272 Batting Average
*2,118 Hits (22nd)
*525 Home runs (5th)
*1,527 RBIs (6th)
*1,280 Runs (9th)
*1,343 Ball on bases(3rd)
*1,944 Strikeouts (1st)
*196 Hit by pitch (1st)

Trivia

*He holds the national record of 20 walk-off hits, 12 home runs, and 2 gland slam home runs.
*He holds many home run records in Koshien Baseball tournament.
**National High School Baseball Championship (Summer Koshien)
***5 home runs in single tournament (1985)
***3 home runs in single game (1984)
***Home runs in consecutive games (3 games) (1985)

**National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (Spring Koshien)
***3 home runs in single tournament (1984)
***2 home runs in single game (1984)

**Total home runs in Koshien Baseball tournaments
***13 home runs (1983-1985)

References

External links

*japanese baseball|id=5