Yutaka Fukumoto

is a retired Japanese professional baseball player in Nippon Professional Baseball. An aggressive lead-off man and superior defensive centerfielder, he holds the Japanese career records in triples and stolen bases. He also hit more lead-off home runs than anyone in Japanese history, with 43. In 2002 (Heisei 14), Fukumoto was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. which stood until it was broken by Rickey Henderson. He also led the Braves to the Japanese championship. Fukumoto was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) and became the first Japanese MVP who had also led the league in steals.

In 1983, he stole his 939th career base, That year he also collected his 2000th career hit. He was contacted for a People's Honour Award, but declined.

Retirement After the 1988 season, the Braves were slated to become the Orix BlueWave. At the last game of the year, manager Toshiharu Ueda delivered a farewell address at the post-game ceremony. Ueda made the mistake of saying, "We bid farewell to Yamada and Fukumoto (who will leave the team) ..." instead of "We bid farewell to Yamada but will have Fukumoto (for the new team) ...". Everyone was caught by surprise, including Fukumoto himself, since he had intended to play at least another year. Fukumoto shrugged to reporters and said, "Ueda said so, I'm retiring", and ended his career. He retired with 2,543 hits, 208 home runs, 449 doubles (2nd all-time), 115 triples, 884 runs batted in, 1,065 stolen bases, and a .291 batting average, in 2401 games.

Fukumoto felt no ill will towards Ueda and went on to coach for Orix in 1989 and 1990. From 1998 to 1999, he coached for the Hanshin Tigers.

He works as a baseball commentator for Asahi Broadcasting Corporation and an independent TV station, SUN-TV.