Kinugasa is mostly remembered for his consecutive-game streak, but he ranks seventh in Nippon Professional Baseball in career home runs (504), 5th in career hits (2543) and 10th in career RBIs (1448), showing that he was one of the most consistent hitters in Japanese baseball. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.
Biography
Kinugasa's mother was Japanese and she raised him by herself. Kinugasa's father was an African American serviceman who was stationed in Japan after World War II.[1][2] He reported that he never met his father.[3]
Playing career
Kinugasa entered Heian High School in Kyoto,[4] and advanced to the Japanese National High School Baseball Championship twice in his senior year as a catcher.[4] He was signed by the Hiroshima Carp in 1965, and spent several years in the minors before an arm injury led him to being converted into a first baseman in 1968.[3] He became the team's regular first baseman, hitting 21 home runs with a .276 batting average. In 1975, he moved to third base at the suggestion of manager Joe Lutz, and his efforts helped the Hiroshima Carp win their first ever league championship.[4] He led the league in stolen bases in 1976, and won the Central League's Most Valuable Player award in 1984 as his team won the Japanese championship series.[3][5]
Nicknamed Tetsujin (Iron Man), after the robot manga "Tetsujin 28" (Known as Gigantor in the United States), Kinugasa played in games even when he was badly injured, including with bone fractures.[6] He last missed a game on October 18, 1970, and set the Japanese consecutive games played record with his 1,247th consecutive game on August 2, 1980.[7] He tied Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games played on June 11, 1987.[3] He surpassed Gehrig in an 8–3 Carp loss to the Chunichi Dragons two days later on June 13. He was honored for his achievement by the sellout crowd at Hiroshima Municipal Stadium after the game in which he had also hit a home run in the eighth inning.[8] Kinugasa retired after the 1987 season, ending his career with 2,215 consecutive games played, 2,543 hits, and 504 home runs.[6] His consecutive games played streak was broken in 1996 by Cal Ripken Jr., who played in 2,632 straight games in Major League Baseball.[5]
On 18 January 2023, Google celebrated the 76th birthday of Kinugasa with a Google Doodle.[9][10]
Pop culture
The character of Mitsuo from the Yakuza series is based on Kinugasa, as he too is a half African-American baseball player who never met his father.[citation needed]
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