Suguru Egawa | |
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Pitcher | |
Born: May 25, 1955 Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan |
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Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
Professional debut | |
NPB: June 2, 1979 for the Yomiuri Giants | |
Last professional appearance | |
July 12, 1987 for the Yomiuri Giants | |
NPB statistics | |
Win-Loss | 135–72 |
ERA | 3.02 |
Strikeouts | 1366 |
Teams | |
Career highlights and awards | |
Suguru Egawa (江川 卓 Egawa Suguru , born May 25, 1955 in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture) is a Japanese former pitcher and now a baseball analyst.
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Egawa entered Sakushin Gakuin High School.[1] In his high school career, he recorded two perfect games of nine no-hitters of 20 shutouts of 30 complete games in 44 games.[2] He closed out his high school career with an earned run average of 0.41, which was quite higher than Daisuke Matsuzaka (1.12) and Masahiro Tanaka (1.31).[3] In the spring of 1973, he set a still-standing record of 60 strikeouts in National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament. He was nicknamed "The Monster", which Matsuzaka was also nicknamed later. However, he was different from Matsuzaka in not having strong teammates. His team had never won the championship at the Koshien Stadium.
Egawa repeatedly attempted to join Yomiuri Giants, but failed every time. On November 21, 1978, he forcedly signed with Yomiuri Giants, but other baseball teams protested against the contract. Because there was no reverse-draft, his act was regarded as unfair by the other Japanese professional baseball teams. After many controversies, he officially entered Yomiuri Giants.[4]
Egawa had over 10 wins each year from 1980 to his retirement. He recorded 8 consecutive strikeouts in 1984 All-Star game, but did not reach Yutaka Enatsu's record of 9 straight strikeouts.
In 1985, Randy Bass seemed to break Sadaharu Oh's single season record of 55 home runs. Therefore, pitchers in Yomiuri Giants were said to be given instructions to give intentional walks to Bass. However, Egawa ignored the indication in the first game of the two last Giants' games against Hanshin Tigers (1 hit-1 out-1 walk). After his leaving the mound, Bass received five walks of six at-bats.
On June 26, 1986, he gave up a home run to Bass, which was the last home run for Bass to hit home runs in 7 consecutive games. Sadaharu Oh's record is also 7 consecutive games. He was admired for his fair plays even though he was against his team's known wishes.
Since he retired in 1987, he has been worked as a baseball analyst. In the Japanese anime film Whisper of the Heart, he played a role as a baseball analyst.
Awards | ||
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Preceded by Koji Yamamoto |
Central League MVP 1981 |
Succeeded by Takayoshi Nakao |
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