Tomoaki Kanemoto

Tomoaki Kanemoto (金本 知憲) is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and manager.

(Kanemoto and Yano work together on the Tigers bench today.) Though they lost in the third round against Kinki University in the 38th annual tournament in 1989 (Kanemoto's sophomore year), they were the runners-up in the 37th and 39th tournaments (in 1988 and 1990, respectively), and won their first national title in the 40th annual tournament in 1991, Kanemoto's senior year.

Following the tournament, Kanemoto was chosen to play in the 20th U.S.–Japan Collegiate All-Star Baseball Games, sharing a room with then-Toyo University outfielder Shinjiro Hiyama, whom he would also later become teammates with upon joining the Tigers, during the series.

Kanemoto was picked in the fourth round of the 1991 NPB draft by the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Kanemoto showed little promise in his first two seasons in the pros, falling behind as younger hitters like Tomonori Maeda and Akira Etoh began to make names for themselves at the ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") level.

He showed so little power that hitting coaches would tell him to try to slap the ball and use his speed to get on base more and earned the rather unflattering nickname "Mole Killer" for his habit of throwing the ball into the ground when trying to make a strong throw on the defensive end.

Frustrated by his shortcomings and realizing that he would be soon released from the team if he did not improve dramatically, Kanemoto began a rigorous weight training regimen and, with the help of then-coach Kazuyoshi Yamamoto, made his way into the starting lineup in the later half of the 1994 season, hitting 17 home runs that year.

He continued to make strides with his bat in 1995, hitting .274 with 24 home runs (including his first career grand slam off then-Tigers left-hander Toshiro Yufune on August 10) and earning his first Best Nine Award.

Kanemoto hit over .300 for the first time in his career in 1996 as the Carp's No. 5 hitter, winning the Central League monthly Most Valuable Player award that September and hitting the first walk-off home run of his career off then-Swallows reliever Hiroto Kato on September 11.

He added a career-high 33 home runs to the .300-plus average and drove in 82 RBI in 1997, but struggled in 1998, hitting just .253 with 21 homers and 74 RBI.

However, he rebounded from the down year by hitting .293 with 34 home runs and 94 RBIs (both career highs) in 1999, playing in all 136 games and hitting for the cycle on April 24 against the Chunichi Dragons.

In 2000, Kanemoto was made the team's cleanup hitter by default after Etoh's departure for the Yomiuri Giants via free agency, and he responded by hitting .315 with 30 home runs and a career-high 30 stolen bases, becoming just the seventh player in NPB history to have a .300–30–30 (batting average, home runs, stolen bases) season.

Kanemoto was born in Minami-ku, Hiroshima, as a third-generation Korean (he obtained Japanese citizenship in 2001).

He began playing baseball in the fourth grade for the Hiroshima Central Little League club, but quit the team after a year because he could not keep up during team practices.

After playing both baseball and softball for various teams while attending junior high, Kanemoto enrolled in Koryo High School, where he became the team's cleanup hitter in his second year (the equivalent of eleventh grade in the United States) and played in the outfield as well as at third base and pitcher.

Although Koryo High had a reputation as a baseball powerhouse, they failed to reach any national tournaments in Kanemoto's three years there.

He hit 20 home runs during his high school career.

Kanemoto earned a spot in the starting lineup in his first year at Tohoku Fukushi University.

His team, which consisted of notable players like pitchers Kazuhiro Sasaki and Takashi Saito, catcher Akihiro Yano, outfielder Koji Otsuka and shortstop/second baseman Chihiro Hamana, all of whom would later go on to the pros, earned berths in four consecutive All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series.

The following season (2001), he set a new Japanese professional baseball record by going 1002 consecutive plate appearances without grounding into a double play and drew 128 walks, the fifth-highest single-season total in NPB history and the most by any player other than Sadaharu Oh.

Kanemoto declared for free agency in the 2002 off-season.

Despite recognizing that Kanemoto was an invaluable asset to the team, the low-budget Carp upheld their longtime policy of not pursuing any player of their own that opts to declare for free agency (an attempt by the Carp to hold down their payroll).

After weeks of negotiations, Kanemoto eventually signed with the Central League rival Hanshin Tigers.

For the season, Kanemoto was given the uniform number 6 and appointed the Tigers' new No. 3 hitter amidst hopes that he would change the very culture of the Tigers organization, a perennial cellar-dweller that had finished last in the Central League four times in the last five years.

He committed himself to his new secondary role in the lineup, hitting just .289 with 19 home runs and 18 stolen bases but focusing on moving runners over and taking pitches so that teammate and fellow outfielder Norihiro Akahoshi could steal (he led the league with 61 stolen bases that year).

Kanemoto played an integral role in leading the Tigers to their first league title in 18 years.

In the Japan Series that followed the regular season, he hit four home runs, homering in three consecutive games and twice in one game (all three tying the previous Japan Series record).

However, the Tigers lost to the Hawks four games to three, failing to win the championship.

In, Kanemoto returned to the cleanup spot following the appointment of new manager Akinobu Okada.

He hit the fourth walk-off home run of his career off then-Dragons ace Kenshin Kawakami on May 8 in a classic 1–0 pitchers' duel.

However, he was hit by a pitch by Dragons closer Hitoki Iwase on July 29, tearing the cartilage on his left wrist.

While his streak of consecutive games played without missing an inning was thought to be in jeopardy, Kanemoto borrowed a lighter bat from teammate Teruyoshi Kuji and continued to play through the injury, setting a new Nippon Professional Baseball record of 701 on August 1.

Despite such adversity, he put up some of his best numbers to date, hitting .317 with 34 home runs and a career-high 113 RBIs and leading the league in RBIs for the first time.

In his career as a player he spent 11 years with the Hiroshima Carp before moving to the Hanshin Tigers in 2003, where he spent another 10 years.

He holds the world record for consecutive games played without missing an inning (1492, ending on April 18, ) and consecutive innings (13686, ending on 9th inning on April 17).

The Tigers' former cleanup hitter, Kanemoto is regarded as one of the most accomplished hitters in Japanese professional baseball history.

His 476 career home runs are the most by a left-handed hitter who throws right-handed and tenth overall on the all-time NPB list.

He is now 10th on the all-time list in both hits and home runs.

Kanemoto retired as a player at the end of the 2012 season and rejoined the Tigers as their manager for the 2016 season, replacing Yutaka Wada.

At the time of his retirement, Kanemoto was ninth on the all-time hit list for Japanese players across Japan and MLB.