Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008

Kyodo News

Former Hiroshima Carp slugger Koji Yamamoto and Tsuneo Horiuchi, a key starting pitcher during the Yomiuri Giants' record Japan Series title streak, have been inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame along with legendary amateur player Seiichi Shima, the selection panel announced Friday.

Happy Moment: Ex-Yomiuri Giant Tsuneo Horiuchi, left, and Koji Yamamoto, a former Hiroshima Carp standout, smile after the announcement of their induction into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday. The former players spoke at a Tokyo press conference. KYODO PHOTOS

Yamamoto, 61, helped the Carp win their first-ever Central League championship in 1975 with a league-high .319 average and led the team to back-to-back Japan Series titles in 1979-80 as their cleanup hitter. He coached third base for Team Japan at the Olympic qualifying tournament in December.

In his 18-year playing career that began in 1969, all with the Carp, Yamamoto hit 2,339 hits and 536 homers while driving in 1,475 runs and leading the league in batting average once, home runs four times and RBIs three times. The Hiroshima native later served as Carp manger in 1989-93 and in 2001-05.

Horiuchi, 59, joined Yomiuri from a Yamanashi Prefecture high school in 1966 as a first-round draft pick and had an impressive rookie season with a 16-2 record and a 1.39 earned run average — a performance that earned him the Sawamura Award that year.

Horiuchi went on to post double-digit wins for 13 straight seasons, including a career-high 26 wins in 1972, as he helped Yomiuri to nine consecutive Japan Series crowns. He compiled a career record of 203-139 with six saves and a 3.27 ERA.

Shima pitched no-hitters in the semifinals and final of the 1939 national high school championships for the Kaiso team from Wakayama Prefecture. He was killed in action during World War II at age 24.

The selection of the three players brought the total number of Hall of Fame inductees to 164.

The reigning Pacific League champion Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and Tokyo Yakult Swallows made a six-player trade on Friday, Kyodo News reported.

Pitchers Shugo Fujii and Yataro Sakamoto and infielder Hajime Miki were dealt from the Swallows, which will be led by new manager and ex-Fighters general manager Shigeru Takada, for hurlers Takehiko Oshimoto and Yoshitaka Hashimoto and outfielder Keizo Kawashima.

Fujii, a 30-year-old southpaw, joined the Tokyo club in 2000 and became the CL's winningest pitcher with 14 victories in 2001. He was saddled with seven wins in each of the last two seasons.

NEW YORK (AP) Roger Clemens' accuser met for about three hours Thursday with federal prosecutors investigating performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

Brian McNamee, the pitcher's former trainer, talked with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella and IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky about the events that led up to his phone call last week with the seven-time Cy Young Award winner, a person familiar with the session said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details.

The meeting took place at the office of Earl Ward, one of McNamee's lawyers. Parrella and Novitzky, part of the BALCO prosecution team that has indicted Barry Bonds for perjury and obstruction of justice, were in the area for Friday's sentencing of former track star Marion Jones.

Clemens and McNamee have been asked to testify Feb. 13 before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch, two of Clemens' former teammates, also have been asked to testify along with Kirk Radomski, the former New York Mets clubhouse attendant who pleaded guilty to distributing steroids to major league players.

Jones pleaded guilty in October to lying about her steroid use and lying about a check-fraud scheme. She is to be sentenced in federal court in White Plains.

We welcome your opinions. Click to send a message to the editor.