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The 1946 East Asia Baseball Hall of Fame added one player in the 1946 class. On his seventh attempt, infielder Kisho Miura finally crossed the 66% threshold with 73.0% of the vote. Closer Toyohiko Taguchi came close on his debut at 62.9%. Another reliever, Ji-Hyun Kim, was the only other player above 50%.



One player was dropped after 10 seasons on the ballot; starting pitcher Takenao Fukuda. Between four teams, he had a 147-87 record, 2.51 ERA, 2045 strikeouts and 52.4 WAR. Solid numbers considering his official EAB career started at age 29. With a full career of numbers, he may have made, but lacking big accolades hurt him despite helping Yokohama win two EAB titles. Fukuda peaked at 32.8% on his second try, ending at 11.1%.



Kisho “Ant” Miura – Infielder – Gwangju Grays – 73.0% Seventh Ballot

Kisho Miura was a 5’9’’, 180 pound right-handed infielder from Kurume, a city in the Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan. Miura was renowned for incredible speed and baserunning ability. He was also a very solid contact hitter with a great eye. He wasn’t powerful, but used his speed to get a good number of doubles and triples. He was an infielder and generally thought of a below average defender. He spent about 40% of his starts at third base, around 25% at second base, 25% as a designated hitter and the rest roughly split between first and shortstop.

Miura was a solid pro in Japan prior to the forming of East Asia Baseball. When EAB was officially founded, Miura signed with the Gwangju Grays at age 29 for the 1921 season. He won six Silver Sluggers in his 10 seasons with Gwangju and led the Korean League in stolen bases each of those years. His 141 steals in 1925 remains the single-season record even a century later. Miura also led the league in runs twice, hits once, and triples thrice.

Gwangju was a Korea League power in the 1920s, winning seven straight South Division titles from 1924-1930. They won the Korea League title in 25, 26, 27, and 30; winning the EAB title in 1930. Miura was the KLCS MVP in 1925 and in his playoff career had 65 hits and 27 runs in 63 playoff games. With the Grays, Miura had 1604 hits, 992 runs, 1106 stolen bases, a .301/.383/.474 slash, and 58.7 WAR. His #17 was retired, the first number to be retired by Gwangju, as an important part of their 1920s run.

At age 39 fresh off a 112 run, 5.5 WAR season, Miura took a shot at Major League Baseball, spending two seasons with Omaha. The veteran was a solid starter in two seasons with the Hawks, then returned to EAB for his final two seasons with Sendai.

His final EAB stats were 1075 runs, 1790 hits, 260 doubles, 222 triples, 1185 stolen bases, a .297/.377/.466 slash and 62.1 WAR. At retirement, he had more stolen bases than any other professional baseball player and remained the EAB all-time leader until 1971. His Hall case is an interesting one as he lacked the home run and RBI numbers usually required. His overall accumulations were lower than many others in the Hall, but it was worth noting his EAB career started at age 29. Had he had his 20s to add to the stats, 2000 career stolen bases could have been possible and he certainly would have racked up more impressive run and hit totals. Miura was below 60% in his first six years on the ballot, but he made it to 73.0% on the seventh try to earn induction.