Takeshi Koba

was a professional baseball player and manager in Japan, and the manager of Tokyo International University's baseball team.

Early life Because baseball was popular in the city, Koba started playing it when he was in primary school. Soon he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player.

In 1952, he went on to Seseiko high school, which had a good baseball team. The next year, he participated in the Koshien tournament, which is the national tournament of high school baseball. After he graduated from high school, he went on to Senshu University but soon after his entering university, his father died. In order to make up for the deficit in the living expenses of his family, he left the university and obtained a job. At the same time, his dream took on a financial overtone as well since baseball players' salaries were very high.

Playing career In 1958, three years after he started working, with the help of the manager of his team, he became a professional baseball player for the Hiroshima Carp, a Japanese professional baseball team belonging to the Central League, with the uniform number 29. In 1959, his second year as a professional baseball player, his uniform number was changed from 29 to 1 and he secured a regular position at shortstop. He continued to be a regular player until 1968.

In 1963, he participated in the all-star game for the first time, and in the regular season he was a leading contestant for the leading hitter, together with Shigeo Nagashima, who was the main batter of the Yomiuri Giants, another Japanese professional baseball team. However, in the final phase of the baseball season, he was hit by a pitch in the face and was sent to a hospital. As a result, he ended in second place with a batting average of .339, which was his best record. After the year, he came to be afraid of inside pitches and therefore he remained in a long slump in batting. Instead, he found a means of survival in his ability for baserunning, especially steals.

In 1964 and 1968, he led in the number of steals in the Central League. The focus on baserunning later had a great influence on his own strategy as manager.

In 1970, he was traded to the Nankai Hawks, which was also one of the Japanese teams but belonged to the other league, the Pacific League. In 1971, he retired and was appointed a coach.

Managing career After working for two years as the Hawks' coach and for one year as the Carp's coach, he was assigned in 1975 to the manager post of the Carp because Joe Lutz, who was the manager at the time, left the team in April, during the baseball season. That year, he led the Carp to become the league champion for the first time in the team's 26-year-long history. He has said that during the year there were mysterious events around him. For example, bluebirds, which are considered the symbol of happiness in Japan, came to his birdcage.