Yutaka Enatsu
Japanese professional baseball player, baseball critic, baseball commentator
About Yutaka Enatsu
Born 1948. Yutaka Enatsu is a Japanese baseball player, actor, tarento, professional baseball player, baseball commentator and baseball Critics.
is a Japanese former pitcher regarded as one of the best Japanese strikeout pitchers of all-time. In , he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record.
Enatsu was a big player in the Black Mist Scandal which embroiled Japanese baseball from 1969 to 1971. In November 1970 he received a stern warning from the Central League president due to "involvement with persons in baseball gambling."
He recorded nine consecutive strikeouts in one of the All-Star games, and 15 consecutive strikeouts in three of the All-Star games between and 1971. His consecutive strikeouts were broken up by Katsuya Nomura. The two records are still unbroken.
A starting pitcher for the first part of his career, in 1977 he became a relief specialist, altogether accumulating 193 saves.
While playing with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 1979, Enatsu was the Central League MVP, as he compiled a 9–5 record with a 2.67 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 104-2/3 innings. That year the Carp won the Central League pennant and the Japan Series.
In 1981, with the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Enatsu was the Pacific League MVP, garnering 25 saves and a 2.82 ERA, as the Fighters won the Pacific League pennant. He is one of just two players to win the MVP in both leagues of NPB and the only one to do so until Michihiro Ogasawara.
Enatsu joined the Milwaukee Brewers for spring training in 1985 at age 36 in an attempt to play Major League Baseball. Enatsu finished spring training with a 4.91 ERA in 11 innings and was among the team's final cuts before the season. He ranks fifth all-time in NPB history for strikeouts with 2,987. He has the most strikeouts of any player not in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
In popular culture Enatsu is a major shadow-figure in Yōko Ogawa's novel The Housekeeper and the Professor (Hakase no ai shita sūshiki, 博士の愛した数式, 2003).
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Important facts
People in Yutaka Enatsu's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Yutaka Enatsu's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Yutaka Enatsu?
Japanese professional baseball player, baseball critic, baseball commentator
When was Yutaka Enatsu born?
Yutaka Enatsu was born on 15 May 1948 in Amagasaki.
What is Yutaka Enatsu's occupation?
Yutaka Enatsu is a baseball player, actor, tarento, professional baseball player, baseball commentator and baseball Critics.
What nationality is Yutaka Enatsu?
Yutaka Enatsu is Japanese.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Yutaka Enatsu. https://biography.guide/yutaka-enatsu/
MLA: "Yutaka Enatsu." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/yutaka-enatsu/.
Chicago: "Yutaka Enatsu." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/yutaka-enatsu/.
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