Meikyukai

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The Meikyukai (名球会, "Association of Great Players," or "Golden Players Club") is one of the two Japanese baseball hall of fame (the other is Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame ; Yakyu Dendo 野球殿堂). The Meikyukai is a company ltd. for public benefit.

It was founded on July 24, 1978 to honor players born during the Showa Era (1926–1988). Players are automatically inducted if they reach a career total of 2,000 hits or 200 wins in the Japanese professional leagues, or the same number playing in Japan and the American major leagues. Two hundred fifty saves were added as a qualification in December 2003. Inductees are awarded a special jacket, and participate in various baseball-related events during the off-season.

Though other records such as home runs, stolen bases, and strikeouts are not officially included in the qualifications, Yutaka Fukumoto was specially inducted when he reached 800 career stolen bases (he would later mark 2,000 career hits). Nationality is not officially regarded as a qualification, but foreign players who have either 2,000 hits or 200 wins in their entire American and Japanese careers (including Warren Cromartie, Larry Parrish, and Julio Franco) will never be considered for membership. Hideo Nomo has not requested membership after reaching 200 career wins, while Yutaka Enatsu gave up his membership after his drug scandal. Hiromitsu Ochiai reached 2,000 hits in 1995, but declined membership because Kaneda and other members had repeatedly criticized him during his career. Kihachi Enomoto has not declined membership, but has never participated in any of the club's meetings or events, and is not recognized as a member.

The founding members of the club limited membership to players born after 1926, partly because they only wanted members that had begun their career after the two league system of Japanese baseball was established (the Showa Era), but mostly because Kaneda did not want to include qualified members, such as Tetsuharu Kawakami, that were older than him. According to current regulations, only players born between 1926 and 1988 can join, but the rules will probably be changed for younger players to be inducted in the near future.

The club was created by Masaichi Kaneda in 1978, who currently serves as the head of the club. Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh, who were among the initial 18 inductees, serve as assistant heads. The Meikyukai mostly makes appearances in charity and volunteer events, and holds annual meetings and a golf tournament, which is often broadcast on television. All of the money raised from the golf tournament is donated to the Red Cross.

[edit] Members

The founding members of the club were: Kaneda, Inao, Koyama, Keiji Suzuki, Yoneda, Etou, Oh, Takagi, Doi, Nagashima, Nomura, Harimoto, Hirose, Yamauchi, Kajimoto, Minagawa and Murayama. The most recent inductee is Yukio Tanaka.