Japan Hall of Fame 2010 Candidates
by Gen on Dec.03, 2009 @ 12:43 am, under NPB
The following players are on the ballot for induction into the Hall of Fame on January 12, 2010.
Player Group
Eligibility: 5 years after they retire and then 15 years until they are dropped off the ballot.
Voting: About 300 members of the press with 15 or more years of experience get to vote. Players that receive more than 75% of votes make it in.
Players that were on the ballot from before:
| Name | Team |
| Kato, Hideji | Hankyu, Hiroshima, Kintetsu, Yomiuri, Nankai |
| Higashio, Osamu | Nishitetsu, Taiheiyo, Crown Lighter, Seibu |
| Nashida, Masataka | Kintetsu |
| Tao, Yasushi | Chunichi, Seibu, Hanshin |
| Wells, Greg "Boomer" | Orix, Daiei |
| Ohshima, Yasunori | Chunichi, Nippon Ham |
| Kitabeppu, Manabu | Hiroshima |
| Okada, Akinobu | Hanshin, Orix |
| Hara, Tatsunori | Yomiuri |
| Ohno, Yutaka | Hiroshima |
| Ochiai, Hiromitsu | Lotte, Chunichi, Yomiuri, Nippon Ham |
| Saito, Masaki | Yomiuri |
| Akiyama, Koji | Seibu, Daiei |
| Kato, Hajime | Nishitetsu, Taiheiyo, Yomiuri |
| Suzuki, Takamasa | Chunichi |
| Takahashi, Yoshihiko | Hiroshima, Lotte, Hanshin |
| Tsuda, Tsunemi | Hiroshima |
| Mayumi, Akinobu | Taiheiyo, Crown Lighter, Hanshin |
| Kaku, Genji | Chunichi |
| Watanabe, Hisanobu | Seibu, Yakult |
| Ito, Tsutomu | Seibu |
Players that were added to the ballot this year:
| Name | Team |
| Kashiwabara, Junichi | Nankai, Nippon Ham, Hanshin |
| Katori, Yoshitaka | Yomiuri, Seibu |
| Komada, Norihiro | Yomiuri, Yokohama |
| Shinozuka, Kazunori | Yomiuri |
| Yamamoto, Kazunori | Kintetsu, Nankai, Daiei, Kintetsu |
| Ohishi, Daijiro | Kintetsu |
| Nakahata, Kiyoshi | Yomiuri |
| Arai, Hiromasa | Nankai, Kintetsu |
Expert Group
Eligibility: 1) coaches, managers, umpires that have been retired for at least 6 months; 2) players that have been retired for at least 21 years.
Voting: About 50 members of the Hall of Fame get to vote. Coaches, managers, umpires, and players that receive more than 75% of votes make it in.
| Name | Team |
| Minagawa, Mutsuo | '92 Kintetsu Coach |
| Gondo, Hiroshi | '00 Yokohama Manager |
| Eto, Shinichi | '76 Lotte |
| Sotokoba, Yoshiro | '99 Hiroshima Coach |
| Hoshino, Senichi | '03 Hanshin |
| Dobashi, Masayuki | '92 Nippon Ham Manager |
| Tabuchi, Koichi | '03 Hanshin Coach |
| Hiramatsu, Masaji | '84 Taiyo |
| Adachi, Mitsuhiro | '85 Hankyu Coach |
| Shibata, Isao | '84 Yomiuri Coach |
December 3rd, 2009 on 5:17 am
It always amazes me how high the standard is to get into the Japanese Hall is. Ochiai and Akiyama seem like obvious first-ballot locks to me, but they didn’t get in last year. I’d love to see Boomer make it in, but given that Bass didn’t make it I don’t see that happening.
December 3rd, 2009 on 7:19 am
Same here. Although I’m more surprised about Ochiai than I am Akiyama.
Ochiai’s currently the only eligible player with 500+ HRs and 1500 RBIs not in the Hall. And as of this posting, he’s in the top 10 with hits as well.
December 4th, 2009 on 12:05 am
I’m betting it has something to do in part with the way Ochiai told the Meikyukai to scupper off?
December 4th, 2009 on 1:08 am
Ochiai burned a lot of bridges during his career. What’s kind of cool is that he really doesn’t seem to care.
December 6th, 2009 on 7:05 am
OK, I’m confused by these lists. Eeveryone on the newly eligible list retired much longer than 5 years ago: Kashiwabara (last season was 1988), Katori (1996), Komada (2000), Shinozuka (1994), Yamamoto (1999), Oishi (1997), Nakahata (1989) Arai (1992). But Akiyama (2002) and Ito (2003) both retired since the most recent retirement on the newly eligible list (Komada in 2000) and yet are returning to the ballot. What am I missing here?
December 6th, 2009 on 7:50 am
Ok, that might be my fault. The 8 in the second group are players that were added to the ballot this year, not necessarily players that became eligible for the ballot this year.
Does that make more sense now?
EDIT: I modified the headings a bit to hopefully provide a better explanation.
December 6th, 2009 on 11:31 pm
So they don’t get added to the ballot as soon as they become eligible?