Shinichi Eto (1965) Power Pros 2024-2025 Recreated Player
Image
Power Number
10100 20699 09056
Player Information
Birthplace: Yamaga City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
Date of Birth: October 6, 1937
Date of Death: February 28, 2008
Height: 178cm Weight: 80kg
Team Results
Nippon Professional Baseball Official Games
Team: Chunichi Dragons
Central League Final Standing: 2nd Place (140 games total, 77 wins, 59 losses, 4 draws, winning percentage .566, 13.0 games behind)
Stats (1965)
Batting Stats
129 games, 529 plate appearances, 443 at-bats
75 runs, 149 hits, 22 doubles, 2 triples, 29 home runs, 262 total bases, 74 RBIs
6 stolen bases, 3 caught stealing, 0 sacrifice bunts, 2 sacrifice flies, 81 walks, 18 intentional walks, 3 hit-by-pitches, 36 strikeouts, 13 double plays
Batting Average .336 On-base percentage .440, Slugging percentage .591, OPS 1.032
Titles
Batting Champion
Awards
Best Nine (Outfielder)
All-Star Game MVP (Game 3)
Other Records
All-Star Game Appearance
Player Introduction
Wearing number 8, he was the "Eight Man" who led the team with gutsy play. The balls hit from his full swing were truly "bullet liners," and there is even an anecdote that "a ball hit by an infielder jumping to catch it kept traveling and went straight into the stands."
In 1965, he won the batting title for the second consecutive year. In both years, he won the title by preventing Sadaharu Oh (Giants) from achieving the Triple Crown, and Eto himself said that his fighting spirit to "not let Oh achieve the Triple Crown" was his driving force. Incidentally, in the Central League during the era when both Oh and Shigeo Nagashima (the so-called "ON Cannon") were active (1959-1974), only three players won batting titles for two consecutive years: Oh, Nagashima, and Eto.
He was also known as a person of character who was polite and took good care of others, and many people admired him, including Toshiro Ashiki, Takayuki Onishi, and Hiromitsu Ochiai. Furthermore, after retiring from active play, he passionately advocated for advanced baseball player development theories, many of which, such as schools for professional development and independent leagues, have since become a reality.