Athletes - Katsuya Nomura

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	Athletes - Katsuya Nomura

One of the greatest catchers in Nippon Pro Baseball, Katsuya Nomura was known for his slugging hitting and his endurance behind the plate. He hit 657 home runs in his career and led the Pacific League in homers eight straight seasons. In 1965, he won the league's first Triple Crown.

Also a leading manager, Nomura managed in three Japan Series between 1970 to 1977 and 1990 to 2002. He lost a job managing the Hanshin Tigers because of his wife Sachiyo's tax evasion and then lost a position leading the Nankai Hawks due to her interference with the club. Nomura was hired to manage the Rakuten Golden Eagles for the 2006 season. Before the season even began, he got into hot water for calling Kazuhisa Ishii and Atsuya Furuta "homo" and for calling on the Pacific League to forbid announcement of starting pitchers before game time and the elimination of external sources for managerial use for information during the game. He also banned facial hair and brown hair dye (even though Rakuten's owner dyed his hair brown).

Nomura has also been notorious for not getting along with foreign players - he let go Larry Parrish in 1990 after Parrish had led the Central League in home runs; he let Tom O'Malley go in 1997 after six straight .300 seasons and two years after he was league MVP and he got into a long dispute with pitcher Darrell May in 1999.

Career Span 1954, 1956-1980
Born June 29, 1935 in Takeno-gun, Japan

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