Satoshi Hirayama

Satoshi Hirayama (平山智, Hirayama Satoshi; February 17, 1930 – September 15, 2021)^[2][3] was an American baseball player who played for the Hiroshima Carp in Japan's Central League.^[4] Hirayama was an All-Star twice in Japan.^[5][6]

Hirayama got the nickname "Fibber" from his father's inability to pronounce "February", the month of his birth.^[4] He was originally from Exeter, California.^[7] At 12 years old, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, he was interned at the Poston War Relocation Center with his father and two brothers.^[4][8] After three years, when World War II ended, he was released and began attending Exeter Union High School from which he graduated in 1947.^[9]

Hirayama was a star athlete at Fresno State, playing both baseball and football as a halfback. Hirayama attended the school on a football scholarship and only played baseball because he did not want to play spring football. He wound up playing three seasons of each.^[1] On the baseball field, he set a college baseball record with five stolen bases in a single game and had a .420 batting average in 1950.^[10] He was voted "Nisei Player of the Year" in 1951.^[4] In 1952, he led Fresno State to its first ever NCAA postseason appearance.^[8] Hirayama set single-season and career school records in stolen bases which would not be surpassed until 1987 by Tom Goodwin.^[11]

On April 30, 2017, he became the eleventh player to have his number retired by Fresno State's baseball program.^[11]

After college, Hirayama signed a professional contract with the St. Louis Browns and spent the 1952 season with the Stockton Ports. He was one of the first Japanese-American players to sign with a Major League Baseball club.^[10]

In 1953, Hirayama was drafted into the military. From 1953 to 1955, he continued playing baseball as a soldier at Fort Ord.^[12] After being discharged, Hirayama signed with the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball on the insistence of fellow Japanese-American Kenichi Zenimura. In 1954, the Browns granted Hirayama his release and he and his wife moved to Japan. Hirayama did not speak Japanese upon arrival but became fluent after a few years.^[1] Toward the end of his playing career, Hirayama was serving as a player-coach. His playing career was cut short when he ran into a wall and suffered a nerve injury which caused him to lose some vision in his right eye.^[13]

After retiring as a player, Hirayama spent three years coaching and one year managing in the Japanese minor leagues before returning to the United States.^[13] Hirayama returned to California where he worked as a scout for the California Angels and Hiroshima Carp. As a scout, he helped the Carp sign Tim Ireland.^[10]

In 2009, Hirayama won the Al Radka Award.^[14] At the time, he was the head of the Japanese Baseball Development Program in the Dominican Republic.^[14]

Hirayama met his wife, Jean, while they were attending Fresno State. They were married in February 1955 and had three sons, Colin, Kevin and Brian.^[15] After returning to the United States, Hirayama also worked as a teacher and administrator in the Clovis Unified School District in addition to his scouting duties.^[10][15] He retired from the school district in 1991 and his wife died that same year.^[15]

En los 2 años y medio previos a la muerte de su excompañero de equipo de Fresno State, Tex Clevenger, a causa de la enfermedad de Alzheimer en agosto de 2019, Hirayama (que entonces tenía 89 años) viajaba semanalmente desde Fresno hasta Visalia, California, para visitar a Clevenger, aunque este último finalmente dejó de reconocerlo y perdió la capacidad de hablar. ^{[ 16 ]}

Satoshi Hirayama murió el 15 de septiembre de 2021, a la edad de 91 años. ^{[ 3 ]}

• Proyecto de investigación sobre béisbol Nisei

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference (Minors)