Masao Yoshida

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Masao Yoshida (吉田正男, Yoshida Masao^?, April 14, 1914 - May 23, 1996) was a Japanese amateur pitcher. He had 23 wins at Spring and Summer Koshien. In the National High School Baseball Championship between 1931 and 1933, he won 14 consecutive games at Koshien Stadium and he became the only pitcher to win three consecutive championships.

[edit] Three consecutive victories in high school

Yoshida entered Chukyo Shogyo. He defeated Yoshiyuki Iwamoto's Kōryō in his quarterfinal game of 1931. He won the first championship in 1931. He defeated Masaru Kageura's Matsuyama Shogyo in his final game of 1932. He won the second championship in 1932. He defeated Fumio Fujimura's Taishō in his quarterfinal game of 1933. On August 19, 1933, he pitched a shutout with 336 pitches and 25 innings in his semifinal game against Akashi. Although he was exhausted by this game, he achieved three consecutive championships next day. He had never joined Nippon Professional Baseball, and played as an amateur pitcher. In honor of his unprecedented pitches at Koshien, he was inducted to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.^[1] No high schools have ever achieved three consecutive victories since his teams.