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Two-way star Tadasumi Tanabe was the lone player inducted into East Asia Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1971, getting 90.9% on his debut. SP Young-Gwon Shin barely missed the 66% threshold at 65.2% on his third go. Slugger Ju-An Pak was also close, but short at 62.9% on his third ballot.



One other player was above 50% in closer Kantaro Kobayashi, who was dropped after ten attempts on the ballot. He had a 19 year career with eight teams and won Reliever of the Year once, posting 344 saves and 527 shutdowns, 1338 strikeouts in 1337 innings, and 30.3 WAR. A respectable career, but lacked the dominance needed to get him across the line. He was never below 44%, but never got to 60%.



Tadasumi Tanabe – Pitcher/Left Field – Saitama Sting – 90.9% First Ballot

Tadasumi Tanabe was a 5’11’’, 185 pound right-handed pitcher and outfielder from Akita, a city of around 300,000 people in the northern part of the main Japanese island Honshu. Tanabe was a two-way player that was known for having great control as a pitcher. His stuff and movement was above average with 93-95 mph peak velocity with a forkball, curveball, cutter, and changeup. As a pitcher, he wasn’t overpowering, but used the great control to coax ground balls. Tanabe also had excellent stamina as a pitcher when healthy. As a hitter, he was very well rounded, considered not outstanding at anything, but good to very good at everything. Tanabe played left field exclusively when not pitching and was considered a consistently average defender with low speed, but a good arm.

Tanabe attended Waseda University in Tokyo and was exclusively a pitcher, posting a 30-12 record, 2.65 ERA, and 11.7 WAR in 56 college starts. His hitting potential was also known, but his pitching profile on its own made him a top prospect. Tanabe was picked second overall by Saitama in the 1951 EAB Draft. He was a full-time starter on the mound as a rookie and also started half the season in the field, earning Rookie of the Year and his first of eight Silver Sluggers as a pitcher. He also won Silver Slugger in 1953, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 62. Tanabe also pitched two no-hitters in his career, striking out seven against Hiroshima in 1955 and striking out 14 against Sendai in 1957.

Injuries caused him to miss about two months in 1954, 55, and 56; but his combined stats still made him an MVP candidate for the mid-tier Sting. In 1954, he finished second in MVP voting with 6.1 WAR on the mound and 4.2 WAR as a hitter. In 1956, he won MVP for the first time with a decent 4.5 WAR as a pitcher and a 7.1 WAR, 29 home run season offensively in 115 games.

1957-59 saw Tanabe at 100% full strength and he unleashed his maximum potential. In all three seasons, he won both the Pitcher of the Year award and Japan League MVP. In this stretch as a pitcher, he had a 61-19 record with 799 innings, 2.28 ERA, 805 strikeouts, and 23.8 WAR. As a hitter, he had 447 hits, 232 runs, 93 home runs, 237 RBI, a .341 batting average, and 22.2 WAR. This gave him 46.0 WAR in three years. Tanabe had a career-best 41 home runs in 1958 with a .353 average and 8.2 WAR. In 1957, he had a career-best 9.5 WAR pitching with 289 strikeouts in 278 innings. 1957 and 1958 both had 16+ combined WAR, which remained EAB single-season records until the 2020s.

This workload proved unsustainable, as in September 1959, Tanabe suffered a damaged elbow ligament, knocking him out for 10 months. Saitama made the playoffs in 1958-60, but the Sting couldn’t get beyond the JLCS. Tanabe was still good when healthy in 1960 and 1961, but missed big chunks of both seasons. Around this time, he started playing for Japan in the World Baseball Championship, joining the team in ten seasons between 1958-69. Tanabe was primarily a pitcher with a 3.57 ERA, 10-6 record, 138.2 innings, 142 strikeouts, and 2.1 WAR. As a hitter in 99 plate appearances, he had 18 hits, 17 runs, 4 home runs, and 8 RBI.

In 1962, he had his last full season with above average production on both ends. Tanabe missed chunks of 1963 and 1964, his final two seasons with Saitama who had fallen back into mediocrity. The Sting would retire his #18 uniform later, but they opted to trade the now 34-year old for the 1965 season to Kyoto for pitcher Tokuzo Saito and 2B Takeye Ono. His time with the Kamikaze was short-lived with a torn labrum in late May, ultimately ending his East Asia Baseball tenure.

Tanabe seemed to still be a solid player when healthy, but he couldn’t stay on the field. MLB’s Memphis gave him a chance with a three-year, $552,000 deal in hopes he could resurrect the magic. A herniated disc, then another torn labrum ended his 1966 with the Mountain Cats. He missed all of 1967 and was cut by Memphis, getting signed for 1968 by Buffalo. Tanabe was still able to gave some positive value when healthy with the Blue Sox. He was signed for 1969 with Oakland and saw the season end with yet another torn labrum. He returned to Japan and signed with Kobe in 1970, but a fourth torn labrum in spring training ended his career at age 40.

Tanabe’s final EAB pitching stats: 161-105, 2.68 ERA, 2669 innings, 2571 strikeouts to 356 walks, 130 complete games, and 62.4 WAR. With three Pitcher of the Year awards as well, he’d be worth consideration purely as a pitcher. As a hitter, he had 1283 hits, 557 runs, 203 doubles, 201 home runs, 601 RBI, a .317/.368/.525 slash and 47.4 WAR. When healthy, Tanabe was one of the most electric and awesome players in professional baseball history. Even with all of the injuries, he still posted enough numbers for a worthy first ballot Hall of Fame career at 90.9%.