Kazuhiro Kiyohara was participating in a Fuji TV game show called Tosochu: Run for Money when he tripped and fell and landed on his left hand.  After the recording, Kiyohara complained of pain in his pinky finger and had it evaluated at a hospital, where he learned he suffered a fracture dislocation.  He will require about four weeks of rest.

The episode is scheduled to air in January 2013.  Footage featuring Kiyohara will be used as is.

Source: Sponichi 11/28/2012, Daily Sports 11/28/2012

A series of Sky Perfect TV commercials featuring Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Masumi Kuwata talking about baseball has been such a big hit that a special one-hour program was created (according to a Daily Sports report, there's about three to four hours of footage and only a small part of that was used for the commercials).  Topics will include the PL Gakuen years, the rivalry years, the teammate years, and retirement.

The program will be broadcast on May 12 between 8:00pm and 9:00pm on Sukachan 5.

Both Kazuhiro Kiyohara (40) and Daisuke Motoki (40) were involved in minor car accidents on Sunday.

The media learned today that:

...Kiyohara was involved in an accident at around 5:30pm on Sunday in Shinjuku.  The incident occurred when Kiyohara tried to switch lanes and instead came into contact with a truck driven by a sixty-year old man.  Neither Kiyohara nor the man in the other car was injured.

...Motoki was involved in an accident at around 4:30pm on Sunday in Meguro at Ohashi Junction.  There was traffic at the time and Motoki rear-ended a car at about five kilometers an hour.  Nieither Motoki nor the individual in the other car was injured.

The media learned today that Kazuhiro Kiyohara was involved in a minor car accident while driving in Tokyo.

According to Mita Police, a mid-sized truck driven by a man in his 20s came into contact with Kiyohara's car while trying to overpass him on a highway at around 8:45 this morning.  No one was injured, but the mirror on the right side of Kiyohara's car was damaged by the truck.

Softbank Hawks

Hiroki Kokubo is currently 8-for-20 during exhibition play.  Kokubo has been working on being more aggressive earlier on in the count.

Seibu Lions

Tatsuya Oishi (1st round) is expected to toss about 5 innings during his Ikusei League game on the 10th against the Yomiuri Giants.

===

The media learned yesterday that Kazuhiro Kiyohara will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the home opener at Seibu Dome on the 29th (vs Lotte).  The last time Kiyohara was involved in a home opener ceremonial first pitch was back in 2006 when he stood in the batter's box while Shizuka Arakawa threw out the first pitch.  This will be the first time he's ever thrown the first pitch.

After the pitch, Kiyohara will take his seat as a radio commentator for Bunka Hoso.

Nippon Ham Fighters

The first three pitchers in the starting rotation will probably be Yu Darvish, Masaru Takeda, and Bobby Keppel.  The remaining three spots are still up for grabs and will probably come down to pitchers like Brian Wolfe, Yuki Saito (1st round), Tomoya Yagi, and Keisaku Itokazu.

Orix Buffaloes

Shunta Goto (1st round) wasn't feeling well after yesterday's game and was taken to a hospital for treatment.  Seems he had a high fever (over 38 degrees Celsius).  He had the day off today because his fever was still up around 37 degrees Celsius.  Goto is expected to return to the team tomorrow (assuming his fever is gone).

FWIW: Goto has also hit a bit of a dry patch at the plate -- he does not have a hit in 10 consecutive trips to the plate.

Rakuten Eagles

Senichi Hoshino returned to Koshien today for the first time (as an active manager) since 10/24/2003 (a span of 2,692 days).

===

Shintaro Masuda is currently 14-for-34 over 9 spring games (includes more than just exhibition games). ... Akinori Iwamura was 0-for-7 with 4 strikeouts before yesterday's game.  He then went 2-for-3 with a double an RBI yesterday before going 0-for-2 with another strikeout today.  He's now 2-for-12 with 5 strikeouts.

===

Kensuke Uchimura was held out of yesterday's game after he started feeling some pain in his right shoulder during pre-game practice.  He is essentially day-to-day.

Kazuhiro Kiyohara will be making his debut as an editor (監督) for a baseball manga in the March 16th release of Business Jump (ビジネスジャンプ).

Kiyohara will be acting as an editor for a manga called Danjiri (だんじり).  The manga will be about a weak high school baseball team that is trying to make it to the Summer Koshien; the manager of the team will also be loosely based on Kiyohara.

Kazuhiro Kiyohara made an appearance at a screening of The Walker (ザ・ウォーカー) on Wednesday to help promote the film and answered a few questions from viewers.  When asked to pick someone that he felt had great leadership abilities, Kiyohara apparently answered Tatsunori Hara.

"I've worked with a number of different managers over my career and I think Hara may have been the best leader of them all.  We were fairly close in terms of age and he was able to bring out the feelings of battling it out together. ... I'm sure he wanted to ask me more about my knees [when I played for him], but he never did and just completely trusted me.  And then when I saw him win the WBC last year, I just felt, now that's a leader."

But more interesting than his opinion on Hara, was his desire to manage himself.

"I'd like to try my hand at it at some point.  There's a lot I need to learn though.  I've often spent time thinking about it while in bed."

Kazuhiro Kiyohara was hospitalized on 11/25 after complaining of pains in his back.  He was later diagnosed with ureteral stones (尿管結石) and was told on Monday that he will require an extended stay at the hospital (likely about a month).

Kiyohara has canceled all his public engagements over the next month or so.

Kiyohara missed last month's 2009 Pro Yakyu OB All-Star Athlete Cup due to the pain in his back and was hospitalized shortly after that.

Kazuhiro Kiyohara 清原和博

Born: August 18, 1967
Height: 188cm
Weight: 104kg
Bats: R Throws: R
High School: PL Gakuen
1985 Draft First Round Pick

Positions: First, Third, DH
Uniform Numbers: Seibu Lions #3, Yomiuri Giants #5, Orix Buffaloes #5

YEAR  TM   GM   AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  TB   RBI  SB  CS  SH  SF  BB   HBP  SO   GIDP  BA    OBP
1986  SEI  126  404   66  123  18  1   31  236  78   6   3   4   3   49   11   109   8    .304  .392
1987  SEI  130  444   66  115  25  3   29  233  83   11  4   0   2   80   10   88    10   .259  .382
1988  SEI  130  451   97  129  21  0   31  243  77   5   4   0   3   82   15   102   10   .286  .410
1989  SEI  128  445   92  126  22  2   35  257  92   7   2   0   2   94   16   60    13   .283  .424
1990  SEI  129  436   99  134  19  2   37  268  94   11  5   0   4   105  15   85    7    .307  .454
1991  SEI  126  448   73  121  20  0   23  210  79   3   3   0   2   80   9    77    12   .270  .390
1992  SEI  129  464   82  134  17  0   36  259  96   5   3   0   3   85   4    98    13   .289  .401
1993  SEI  128  448   66  120  15  1   25  212  75   3   2   0   2   84   6    120   9    .268  .389
1994  SEI  129  455   78  127  29  0   26  234  93   5   1   0   5   100  5    117   12   .279  .411
1995  SEI  118  404   63  99   13  3   25  193  64   2   0   0   2   90   9    111   6    .245  .392
1996  SEI  130  487   67  125  30  0   31  248  84   0   2   0   0   70   6    122   14   .257  .357
1997  YOM  130  462   65  115  24  0   32  235  85   0   0   0   7   69   12   152   7    .249  .356
1998  YOM  116  384   67  103  14  0   23  186  80   1   0   0   11  67   8    76    13   .268  .379
1999  YOM  86   263   39  62   12  0   13  113  46   0   0   0   4   46   10   68    12   .236  .365
2000  YOM  75   216   41  64   10  0   16  122  54   0   0   0   3   25   8    51    6    .296  .385
2001  YOM  134  467   67  139  29  0   29  255  121  0   1   1   4   65   14   140   20   .298  .396
2002  YOM  55   148   24  47   1   0   12  84   33   0   0   0   1   18   7    36    1    .318  .414
2003  YOM  114  341   47  99   9   0   26  186  68   0   0   0   4   42   16   97    9    .290  .390
2004  YOM  40   101   18  23   2   0   12  61   27   0   0   0   0   15   4    41    4    .228  .350
2005  YOM  96   321   42  68   6   0   22  140  52   0   1   0   3   41   10   111   6    .212  .317
2006  ORI  67   203   21  45   7   0   11  85   36   0   0   0   1   36   1    83    6    .222  .340
2007  ORI                                      DID NOT PLAY, INJURED
2008  ORI  22   22    0   4    2   0   0   6    3    0   0   0   0   3    0    11    0    .182

Titles

• Rookie of the Year (1986)
• Top OBP: 1990, 1992
• Best Nine: 1988, 1990, 1992
• Golden Glove: 1988, 1990, 1992-1994

Awards

• MVP of the Month: 9/1986, 8/1990, 9/1992, 5/1994, 6/2001
• Nippon Series MVP: 1986, 1988, 2002
• Noppon Series Fighting Spirit Award: 1993, 1994
• JCB/MEP Award for Excellence: 2001
• All-Star MVP: 1986 Gm 2, 1987 Gm 3, 1990 Gm 2, 1993 Gm 1, 1996 Gm 2, 1997 Gm 2, 2000 Gm 3

Records

• 21 Consecutive seasons of double-digit HRs (1986-2006)
• 13 Consecutive seasons of 20 or more HRs (1986-1998)
• 20+ HR seasons: 16
• Walk-off HRs: 12 (NPB Record)
• Walk-off Hits: 20 (NPB Record)
• Grand Slams: 11
• Walk-off Grand Slams: 2
• 3 Consecutive Innings with a HR: 6/9/2001
• All-Star Appearances: 18 (1986-1998, 2000-2002, 2005, 2006)
• All-Star Batting Avg: .365
• All-Star HRs: 13
• All-Star RBIs: 34
• All-Star Runs: 26
• All-Star Total Bases: 96