List of Chunichi Dragons managers
The Chunichi Dragons are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. The Dragons are members of the Central League (CL) in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager, or more formally, the field manager. The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field.[1][2]
Since their inception as Nagoya Club in 1936, the Dragons have employed 30 managers.
As one of the founding members of the NPB, the team has employed 30 managers (including four on an interim basis only), winning two Japan Series titles and eight Central League pennants. The franchise's first manager was hall of famer, Yutaka Ikeda, who managed the team for one year and who won 19 games in 42 attempts. Chunichi's most successful season came under another hall of famer, Shunichi Amachi, who led the team to Central league victory in 1954 with a winning percentage of .683 to claim the team's first Central League and Japan Series crowns. He was the first manager with no professional baseball experience to do so in Japan. It took another 53 years for Chunichi to win its second Japan series in 2007, under the coaching of long-term manager Hiromitsu Ochiai. Ochiai would prove to be the Dragons' most successful manager, with four Central League pennants to go with his Japan Series win.[3]
Former Chunichi ace pitcher and Eiji Sawamura Award winner Senichi Hoshino is the longest serving Dragons' manager, having had two stints with the team for an accumulated 11 years in the hot seat. He led the Dragons to the Central League pennant twice, in 1988 and 1999.[4]
Long serving catcher and NPB appearance record holder Motonobu Tanishige became manager of the Dragons while still playing professionally in 2013.[5] He retired in 2015 to focus on managing the team.[6] Tanishige however was relieved of his post following a series of disappointing results on the 9th of August, 2016 with head coach Shigekazu Mori taking control of the team as interim manager[7] and eventually as full-time manager.[8]
Former top draft pick and Dragons closer, Tsuyoshi Yoda is the current manager.
Table key
| # | A running total of the number of Dragons managers. Any manager who has two or more separate terms is only counted once. |
|---|---|
| GM | Number of regular season games managed; may not equal sum of wins and losses due to tie games |
| W | Number of regular season wins in games managed |
| L | Number of regular season losses in games managed |
| T | Number of regular season ties in games managed |
| Win% | Winning percentage: number of wins divided by number of games managed |
| PA | Playoff appearances: number of years this manager has led the franchise to the playoffs |
| PW | Playoff wins: number of wins this manager has accrued in the playoffs |
| PL | Playoff losses: number of losses this manager has accrued in the playoffs |
| PT | Playoff ties: number of ties this manager has accrued in the playoffs |
| LC | League Championships: number of League Championships, or pennants, achieved by the manager |
| JS | Japan Series: number of Japan Series won by the manager |
| † | Elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame |
Managers
Statistics current through the 2020 season
| # | Manager | Seasons | GM | W | L | T | Win% | PA | PW | PL | PT | LC | JS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yutaka Ikeda† | 1936 | 42 | 19 | 23 | 0 | .452 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Kaishi Masu | 1937 | 105 | 34 | 68 | 3 | .323 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Yukisato Nemoto | 1938–1939 | 107 | 40 | 61 | 6 | .396 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Tokuro Konishi† | 1939–1941 | 224 | 99 | 90 | 7 | .505 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Chikayoshi Honda | 1941–1942 | 161 | 63 | 92 | 6 | .406 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Kaishi Masu | 1943 | 84 | 48 | 29 | 7 | .623 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Daisuke Miyake† | 1944 | 35 | 13 | 21 | 1 | .382 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Yoshikazu Takeuchi | 1946 | 36 | 13 | 21 | 2 | .382 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Kiyoshi Sugiura | 1946-1948 | 328 | 148 | 172 | 8 | .451 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Shunichi Amachi† | 1949–1951 | 387 | 217 | 160 | 10 | .561 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Michinori Tsubouchi† | 1952–1953 | 250 | 145 | 100 | 5 | .580 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Shunichi Amachi† | 1954 | 130 | 86 | 40 | 4 | .683 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Akira Noguchi | 1955–1956 | 260 | 151 | 108 | 1 | .583 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Shunichi Amachi† | 1957–1958 | 260 | 136 | 106 | 8 | .523 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | Shigeru Sugishita† | 1959–1960 | 260 | 127 | 128 | 5 | .488 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Wataru Nohnin | 1960–1962 | 263 | 142 | 106 | 5 | .540 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Kiyoshi Sugiura | 1963–1964 | 196 | 101 | 92 | 3 | .515 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | Michio Nishizawa† | 1963–1967 | 480 | 253 | 217 | 10 | .538 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Shigeru Sugishita† | 1968 | 134 | 50 | 80 | 4 | .385 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Itsuro Honda | 1968 | 75 | 29 | 43 | 3 | .403 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Shigeru Mizuhara† | 1969–1971 | 390 | 179 | 195 | 16 | .459 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | Wally Yonamine† | 1972–1977 | 780 | 388 | 349 | 43 | .526 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | Toshio Naka | 1978–1980 | 390 | 157 | 204 | 29 | .435 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Sadao Kondoh† | 1981–1983 | 390 | 176 | 181 | 33 | .451 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | Kazuhiro Yamauchi† | 1984–1986 | 322 | 154 | 142 | 26 | .478 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 21 | Morimichi Takagi† | 1986 | 130 | 54 | 67 | 9 | .446 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 22 | Senichi Hoshino† | 1987–1991 | 652 | 348 | 283 | 21 | .534 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| — | Morimichi Takagi† | 1992–1995 | 522 | 252 | 268 | 2 | .483 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 23 | Sadayuki Tokutake | 1995 | 57 | 17 | 39 | 1 | .304 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Ikuo Shimano | 1995 | 54 | 25 | 29 | 0 | .463 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Senichi Hoshino† | 1996–2001 | 809 | 418 | 385 | 6 | .517 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 25 | Hisashi Yamada† | 2002–2003 | 260 | 128 | 127 | 5 | .502 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 26 | Kyosuke Sasaki | 2003 | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | .700 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 27 | Hiromitsu Ochiai† | 2004–2011 | 1,150 | 629 | 491 | 30 | .562 | 5 | 13 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| — | Morimichi Takagi† | 2012–2013 | 288 | 139 | 130 | 19 | .483 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 28 | Motonobu Tanishige | 2014–2016 | 396 | 172 | 208 | 11 | .434 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 29 | Shigekazu Mori | 2016–2018 | 325 | 137 | 181 | 7 | .421 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 30 | Tsuyoshi Yoda | 2019–Present | 263 | 128 | 128 | 7 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
References
- General
- 中日ドラゴンズ 年度別成績 (2005–2015) [Chunichi Dragons Results By Year (2005–2015)] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
- "Hall of Famers List". The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- Specific
- "Manager: Definition | Dictionary.com". Dictionary.Reference.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 2006. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
- Dickson, P. (2009). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third ed.). W.W. Norton & Co. p. 530. ISBN 978-0-393-06681-4.
- Jason Coskrey (25 November 2011). "Ochiai bows out after eight years in charge of Dragons". Japan Times. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- Jason Coskrey (23 October 2013). "Veteran skipper Hoshino continues quest for elusive title". Japan Times. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- Wayne Graczyk (19 October 2013). "Tanishige to become rare player-manager for Dragons". Japan times. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- "Dragons manager Tanishige to end playing career". Japan Times. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- "Dragons manager Tanishige ordered to take leave of absence". Japan Times. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
- "Mori staying put with Dragons". The Japan Times. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.