Motonobu Tanishige (Japanese: 谷繁 元信, born December 21, 1970, in Hiroshima) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player and manager.

Motonobu Tanishige
Tanishige with the Chunichi Dragons
Catcher / Manager
Born: (1970-12-21) December 21, 1970 (age 53)
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
NPB debut
April 11, 1989, for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales
Last NPB appearance
September 26, 2015, for the Chunichi Dragons
NPB statistics
(through 2015)
Batting average.240
Home runs229
Hits2,108
RBI1,040
Teams
As Player

As Manager

Career highlights and awards
Medals
Representing  Japan
Men's Baseball
World Baseball Classic
Gold medal – first place 2006 San Diego Team

Tanishige played 27 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), appearing in more games than any other player in NPB history.[1] Making his debut for the Taiyo Whales in 1989 at age 18, he played for the franchise for 13 years. In 2002, he moved to the Chunichi Dragons, where he played for 14 seasons, until 2015. He was the player-manager of the Chunichi Dragons from 2014 to 2015,[2] staying on as manager in 2016.

Tanishige played in five Japan Series. He played in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, when Japan won the championship.

Professional career

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Tanishige performed well in the 2004 Japan Series (which the Dragons lost 4-games-to-3 to the Seibu Lions), including hitting his first career grand slam.

In 2015, Tanishige broke the NPB record for games played, passing Katsuya Nomura with 3,018[1] — he later extended the record. Tanishige is second on the career strikeout list with 1,838.[citation needed] With more than 200 career home runs, Tanshige is a member of the Meikyukai hall of fame.[citation needed]

Managerial career

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After retiring from playing at the end of the 2015 season, Tanishige became full-time manager of the Dragons. After a rocky start to the season followed by a lacklustre continuation following the All-Star break, on August 10, 2016, he was relieved from his duties alongside fielding coach Takahiro Saeki.[3] He was replaced by head coach, Shigekazu Mori for the remainder of the season.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Dragons’ Tanishige plays in NPB record 3,018th game," Japan Times (July 28, 2015).
  2. ^ Graczyk, Wayne. "Tanishige to become rare player-manager for Dragons." 19 October 2013: The Japan Times.
  3. ^ "Tanishige's reign ends with Dragons". The Japan News. August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  4. ^ "Dragons manager Tanishige ordered to take leave of absence". Japan Times. August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
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