Atsuya Furuta

Atsuya Furuta (古田 敦也, b. August 6, 1965 in Kawanishi, Hyōgo) is a former baseball player and player-manager for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball club in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Drafted in the 2nd round in 1990, Furuta became a leader for the Swallows as a catcher and became the first player-manager in Japanese baseball in 29 years, since Katsuya Nomura in 1977. In addition to his skills on the field, he is also known for leading a successful two day strike in 2004 as the head of the Japanese baseball players union [1].

He remains one of the most prominent figures in Japanese baseball because of his leadership both on and off the field. In June 2007, Furuta removed himself from the active roster so he could focus on managing the floundering Swallows. He retired as player and manager in the same season.









Trivia

* His hobby is playing Shogi (Japanese chess). He was given a third degree rank by the Japanese Shogi Association, and guest starred in a television drama as a Shogi player. He played Shogi master Yoshiharu Habu in a television special event, but was defeated.
* Since he used to play for the Toyota baseball team, he drives a Toyota, and has appeared in the company's advertisements.
* Furuta is known for his trademark glasses. In 2006, Swallows set one of their home games as "Glasses Day" (眼鏡デー, Megane Dē?), giving out a special gift to every person wearing glasses (even fake ones are accepted) upon admission to the Meiji Jingu Stadium.
* Furuta was the second contestant to defeat the "Daruma 7" challenge on the Japanese game show Kinniku Banzuke.

Awards and Accomplishments

* MVP (1993, 1997)
* Batting Title (1991)
* Best Nine Award (1991~1993, 1995, 1997, 1999~2001, 2004)
* Golden Glove Award (1990~1993, 1995, 1997, 1999~2001, 2004)
* Championship Series MVP (1997, 2001)
* All Star (1990~2006)
* 1988 Seoul Olympics silver medalist