List of Nippon Professional Baseball ERA champions

The List of Nippon Professional Baseball champions.

Japanese Baseball League (1937-1949)

Year	Player	Team	ERA
1936 (Fall)	Masaru Kageura Masaru Kageura was a Japanese baseball player from Matsuyama, Ehime. His team reached the final in the 1932 National High School Baseball Championship, but his team was defeated by Masao Yoshida in the final. He joined Tigers and he was a good rival for Eiji Sawamura in Giants. He was killed in the battle of the...	Osaka Tigers Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...	0.79
1937 (Spring)	Eiji Sawamura Eiji Sawamura Eiji Sawamura was a Japanese professional baseball player...	Tokyo Kyojingun Yomiuri Giants The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...	0.81
1937 (Fall)	Yukio Nishimura	Osaka Tigers	1.48
1938 (Spring)	Yukio Nishimura	Osaka Tigers	1.52
1938 (Fall)	Victor Starffin Victor Starffin Victor Starffin , nicknamed , was an ethnic Russian baseball player in Japan and the first professional pitcher in Japan to win three hundred games.-Biography:...	Tokyo Kyojingun	1.05
1939	Tadashi Wakabayashi Tadashi Wakabayashi Tadashi Henry Wakabayashi was a professional baseball player from Oahu, Hawaii. He was a second generation Japanese-American.-Biography:...	Osaka Tigers	1.09
1940	Jiro Noguchi	Tsubasagun	0.93
1941	Jiro Noguchi	Taiyogun	0.88
1942	Yasuo Hayashi	Asahigun	1.01
1943	Hideo Fujimoto Hideo Fujimoto was a Japanese baseball pitcher. He holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA and seasonal ERA . At Aomori Stadium, in he pitched the first perfect game in NPB history....	Tokyo Kyojingun	0.73
1944	Tadashi Wakabayashi	Hanshingun Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...	1.56
1945	Season suspended
1946	Hideo Fujimoto	Tokyo Kyojingun	2.11
1947	Giichiro Shiraki	Tokyu Flyers	1.74
1948	Hiroshi Nakao	Yomiuri Giants Yomiuri Giants The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...	1.84
1949	Hideo Fujimoto	Yomiuri Giants	1.94

Nippon Professional Baseball (1950-present)

Year	Central League Central League The or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...			Pacific League Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series...
Year	Player	Team	ERA	Player	Team	ERA
1950	Nobuo Oshima	Shochiku Robins Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium....	2.03	Atsushi Aramaki	Mainichi Orions Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...	2.06
1951	Kiyoshi Matsuda	Yomiuri Giants	2.01	Susumu Yuki	Nankai Hawks Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were...	2.08
1952	Tabayoshi Kajioka	Osaka Tigers	1.71	Susumu Yuki	Nankai Hawks	1.91
1953	Takumi Otomo	Yomiuri Giants	1.85	Tokuji Kawasaki	Nishitetsu Lions	1.98
1954	Shigeru Sugishita	Chunichi Dragons Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...	1.39	Motuji Takuwa	Nankai Hawks	1.58
1955	Takehiko Bessho Takehiko Bessho Takehiko Bessho , born Akira Bessho , was a Japanese sportsperson whose professional career as a player lasted from 1942 until 1960. Bessho first achieved fame as a pitcher in Nippon Pro Baseball ; later, he served as a NPB manager....	Yomiuri Giants	1.33	Takashi Nakagawa	Mainichi Orions	2.08
1956	Shozo Watanabe	Osaka Tigers	1.45	Kazuhisa Inao Kazuhisa Inao was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher. In 1957, he won 20 consecutive games. In 1958 Japan Series, he pitched six games and won 4 consecutive games after his team lost 3 games. He even made a home run in fifth game of Japan Series. He was the Pacific League's Most Valuable Player in 1957 and...	Nishitetsu Lions	1.06
1957	Masaichi Kaneda Masaichi Kaneda is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He is one of the best known pitchers in Japanese baseball history, and is the only Japanese pitcher to have won 400 games. He was inducted in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988....	Kokutetsu Swallows Tokyo Yakult Swallows is a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League.The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, the Yakult Corporation. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper Sankei...	1.63	Kazuhisa Inao	Nishitetsu Lions	1.37
1958	Masaichi Kaneda	Kokutetsu Swallows	1.30	Kazuhisa Inao	Nishitetsu Lions	1.42
1959	Minoru Murayama Minoru Murayama was a professional baseball player for the Osaka Tigers in Nippon Professional Baseball. His number 11 is retired with the Tigers. A pitcher with Hanshin from 1959 to 1972, he recorded a career 2.09 ERA and 192 career complete games to go with 222 wins. Hall of Famer.-Early life:He was born on...	Osaka Tigers	1.19	Tadashi Sugiura Tadashi Sugiura was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player with the Nankai Hawks. He debuted in the 1958 and went on to join the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame for his skills as a pitcher.-External links:...	Nankai Hawks	1.40
1960	Noboru Akiyama Noboru Akiyama was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher, originally from Okayama, Okayama. He played with the Taiyo Whales. He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.-External links:...	Taiyo Whales Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium....	1.75	Shoichi Ono	Daimai Orions Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...	1.98
1961	Hiroshi Gondo	Chunichi Dragons	1.70	Kazuhisa Inao	Nishitetsu Lions	1.69
1962	Minoru Murayama	Hanshin Tigers Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...	1.20	Osamu Kubota	Toei Flyers	2.12
1963	Minoru Kakimoto	Chunichi Dragons	1.70	Hiroyuki Kubo	Kintetsu Buffaloes Kintetsu Buffaloes The was a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka, Japan, which were in the Pacific League. The team was owned by Kinki Nippon Railway Co. and later sold to the Orix Group, the owner of the Orix BlueWave baseball team, in 2004...	2.36
1964	Gene Bacque Gene Bacque Gene Bacque is a former professional baseball player who played in the Japanese professional leagues.-Biography:...	Hanshin Tigers	1.89	Yoshiro Tsumajima	Tokyo Orions Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...	2.15
1965	Masaichi Kaneda	Yomiuri Giants	1.84	Kiyohiro Miura	Nankai Hawks	1.57
1966	Tsuneo Horiuchi Tsuneo Horiuchi is a former professional baseball pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. In he was voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. He stood as a candidate of the House of Councillors election, 2010 for the LDP but lost...	Yomiuri Giants	1.39	Kazuhisa Inao	Nishitetsu Lions	1.79
1967	Masatoshi Gondo	Hanshin Tigers	1.40	Mitsuhiro Adachi	Hankyu Braves Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka and Kobe, Japan. They play in the Pacific League. The team is owned by the Orix Group, a leading diversified financial services company based in Tokyo....	1.75
1968	Yoshiro Sotokoba	Hiroshima Carp	1.94	Mutsuo Minagawa	Nankai Hawks	1.61
1969	Yutaka Enatsu Yutaka Enatsu is a former Japanese pitcher regarded as one of best Japanese pitchers of all-time. In , he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record. He recorded 9 consecutive strikeouts in one of the All-Star games, and 15 consecutive strikeouts in three of the All-Star games between and 1971....	Hanshin Tigers	1.81	Masaaki Kitaru	Lotte Orions Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...	1.72
1970	Minoru Murayama	Hanshin Tigers	0.98	Michio Sato	Nankai Hawks	2.05
1971	Kazuhiro Fujimoto	Hiroshima Carp	1.71	Hisashi Yamada Hisashi Yamada was a Japanese baseball submarine pitcher. He played with the Hankyu Braves in Nippon Professional Baseball from to .Yamada won the Pacific League MVP for three years in a row , and the Japan Series MVP in 1977. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in .-External links:...	Hankyu Braves	2.37
1972	Takeshi Yashuda	Yakult Atoms Tokyo Yakult Swallows is a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League.The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, the Yakult Corporation. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper Sankei...	2.08	Toshihiko Sei	Kintetsu Buffaloes	2.36
1973	Takeshi Yashuda	Yakult Atoms	2.02	Tstsuya Yoneda	Hankyu Braves	2.47
1974	Shitoshi Sekomoto	Yomiuri Giants	2.28	Michio Sato	Nankai Hawks	1.91
1975	Shohachi Aniya	Hanshin Tigers	1.91	Choji Murata	Lotte Orions	2.20
1976	Takamasa Suzuki	Chunichi Dragons	2.98	Choji Murata	Lotte Orions	1.82
1977	Hisao Niura	Yomiuri Giants	2.32	Hisashi Yamada	Hankyu Braves	2.28
1978	Hisao Niura	Yomiuri Giants	2.81	Keishi Suzuki	Kintetsu Buffaloes	2.02
1979	Masaji Hiramatsu	Taiyo Whales Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium....	2.39	Tetsuji Yamaguchi	Kintetsu Buffaloes	2.49
1980	Hiromu Matsuoka	Yakult Swallows	2.35	Isamu Kida	Nippon Ham Fighters	2.28
1981	Suguru Egawa Suguru Egawa is a Japanese former pitcher and now a baseball analyst.-High school career:Egawa entered Sakushin Gakuin High School. In his high school career, he recorded two perfect games of nine no-hitters of 20 shutouts of 30 complete games in 44 games...	Yomiuri Giants	2.29	Noriaki Okabe Noriaki Okabe Noriaki Okabe is a Japanese architect.He was born in Shizuoka, Japan. He had worked with Renzo Piano for twenty years in Europe, from the designing construction supervision of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris....	Nippon Ham Fighters	2.70
1982	Akio Saito	Taiyo Whales	2.07	Satoshi Takahashi	Nippon Ham Fighters	1.84
1983	Osamu Fukuma	Hanshin Tigers	2.62	Osamu Higashio Osamu Higashio Osamu Higashio is a former Japanese baseball player who played in the Japanese professional leagues from 1969-1988. He also was manager of the Seibu Lions from 1995-2001.-Professional career:...	Seibu Lions	2.92
1984	Seiji Kobayashi	Hiroshima Carp	2.20	Yutaro Imai	Hankyu Braves	2.93
1985	Tatsuo Komatsu	Chunichi Dragons	2.65	Kimiyashu Kudo	Seibu Lions	2.76
1986	Manabu Kitabeppu Manabu Kitabeppu , is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, the first-round draft pick of the Hiroshima Carp in 1975 and one of the most famous Japanese right-handed pitchers...	Hiroshima Carp	2.43	Noriyoshi Sato	Hankyu Braves	2.83
1987	Masumi Kuwata Masumi Kuwata Masumi Kuwata is a former Japanese right-handed pitcher. He was formerly with the Yomiuri Giants of the Central League. He pitched 21 seasons with the Giants, beginning in 1986. In December 2006 Masumi signed a minor league deal with the Pirates...	Yomiuri Giants	2.17	Kimiyashu Kudo	Seibu Lions	2.41
1988	Yutaka Ohno Yutaka Ohno , is a former Japanese baseball player of the Hiroshima Carp of Japan's Central League.He was one of most famous Japanese left-handed pitchers.He was born in Izumo, Shimane.He was known as the man from ....	Hiroshima Carp	1.70	Hirofumi Kono	Nippon Ham Fighters	2.38
1989	Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants	1.62	Choji Murata	Lotte Orions	2.50
1990	Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants	2.17	Hideo Nomo Hideo Nomo is a former right-handed pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball from Japan. He achieved early success in Japan, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from to...	Kintetsu Buffaloes	2.91
1991	Shinji Sasaoka	Hiroshima Carp	2.44	Tomio Watanabe	Seibu Lions	2.35
1992	Koki Morita	Taiyo Whales	2.05	Tomoyuki Akahori	Kintetsu Buffaloes	1.80
1993	Masa Yamamoto	Chunichi Dragons	2.05	Kimiyashu Kudo	Seibu Lions	2.06
1994	Genji Kaku Genji Kaku Genji Kaku , is a Japanese former professional baseball player from Taitung, Taiwan. His family comes from the Taiwanese aborigines...	Chunichi Dragons	2.45	Hiroshi Shintani	Seibu Lions	2.91
1995	Terry Bross Terry Bross Terrence Paul "Terry" Bross is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He bats and throws right-handed....	Yakult Swallows	2.33	Hideki Irabu Hideki Irabu was a professional baseball player of Okinawan and American mixed ancestry. He played professionally in both Japan and the United States.-Early life:...	Lotte Marines Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...	2.53
1996	Masaki Saito	Yomiuri Giants	2.36	Hideki Irabu	Lotte Marines	2.40
1997	Yutaka Ohno	Hiroshima Carp	2.85	Satoru Komiyama Satoru Komiyama , born September 15, 1965, is a professional baseball player from Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan. He currently plays with the Chiba Lotte Marines, and played in the major leagues with the New York Mets in 2002.-Biography:...	Lotte Marines	2.49
1998	Shigeki Noguchi	Chunichi Dragons	2.34	Satoru Kanemura	Nippon Ham Fighters	2.73
1999	Koji Uehara Koji Uehara is a Major League Baseball Japanese right-handed relief pitcher. He is currently a relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers.Uehara throws a high-80s four-seam fastball and a solid forkball as his primary pitches...	Yomiuri Giants	2.09	Kimiyasu Kudo	Daiei Hawks Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were...	2.38
2000	Kazuhisa Ishii Kazuhisa Ishii Kazuhisa Ishii is a Japanese former Major League Baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Saitama Seibu Lions....	Yakult Swallows	2.61	Nobuyuki Ebisu	Orix BlueWave Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka and Kobe, Japan. They play in the Pacific League. The team is owned by the Orix Group, a leading diversified financial services company based in Tokyo....	3.27
2001	Shigeki Noguchi	Chunichi Dragons	2.46	Nate Minchey Nate Minchey Nathan Derek Minchey is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1993 through 1997 for the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies...	Lotte Marines	3.26
2002	Masumi Kuwata	Yomiuri Giants	2.22	Masahiko Kaneda	Orix BlueWave	2.50
2003	Kei Igawa Kei Igawa is a Japanese left-handed starting pitcher who is currently a free agent, originally from Ōarai, Ibaraki, Japan. He played for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball from to . He led all pitchers in the Central League for strikeouts in , and 2006...	Hanshin Tigers	2.80	Kazumi Saito Kazumi Saito is a Japanese professional baseball player. starting pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He is a two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award , but has not pitched in a regular season game since October 2007 due to various shoulder injuries.-Professional career:...	Daiei Hawks	2.83
2003		Hanshin Tigers	2.80	Daisuke Matsuzaka Daisuke Matsuzaka is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball in the United States. He previously played for the Seibu Lions in Japan's Pacific League. He was selected the MVP of the inaugural and the second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic bronze...	Seibu Lions	2.83
2004	Koji Uehara	Yomiuri Giants	2.60	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Seibu Lions	2.90
2005	Daisuke Miura Daisuke Miura Daisuke Miura is a professional baseball player from Kashihara, Nara, Japan. He is a starting pitcher for the Yokohama BayStars....	Yokohama BayStars Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium....	2.52	Toshiya Sugiuchi Toshiya Sugiuchi is a Japanese baseball player. He is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.Sugiuchi was the Eiji Sawamura Award winner in...	Fukuoka SoftBank Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were...	2.11
2006	Hiroki Kuroda Hiroki Kuroda is a professional baseball player from Osaka, Japan who is currently a free agent. He is a starting pitcher, who most recently pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers .-Early days:...	Hiroshima Carp	1.85	Kazumi Saito	Daiei Hawks	1.75
2007	Hisanori Takahashi Hisanori Takahashi is a Japanese Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.-Career:-Nippon Professional Baseball:Takahashi previously spent his entire professional career with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball...	Yomiuri Giants	2.75	Yoshihisa Naruse Yoshihisa Naruse Yoshihisa Naruse is a Japanese baseball player. He is a pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball. He made his debut in the 2006 season.. In 2007, Naruse had his best season as a professional in his short career...	Lotte Marines	1.82
2008	Masanori Ishikawa Masanori Ishikawa is a Japanese professional baseball player. He is currently a pitcher for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows....	Yakult Swallows	2.68	Hisashi Iwakuma Hisashi Iwakuma is a Japanese professional baseball player. He is currently the starting pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.As the Eagles' reigning staff ace, Iwakuma won the Eiji Sawamura Award in and played in the 2004 Athens Olympics as well as the 2009 World Baseball Classic for the Japanese...	Rakuten Eagles Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The is a baseball team founded in 2004; it played its first season in the Japanese Pacific League in 2005. It is simply called Rakuten . The team was created to fill the void left by the merger of the Orix Blue Wave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes, after the 2004 season due to financial difficulties,...	1.87
2009	Chen Wei-Yin Chen Wei-Yin Chen Wei-Yin born July 21, 1985 in Kaohsiung County , Taiwan is a professional pitcher for the Chunichi Dragons in Central League of the Nippon Professional Baseball .-Career:...	Chunichi Dragons	1.54	Yu Darvish Yu Darvish Yu Darvish is a Japanese starting pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japanese national team...	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1.73

Japanese Baseball League (1937-1949)

Nippon Professional Baseball (1950-present)

See also