Kaichi Masu

Kaichi Masu is the kind of figure who quietly keeps baseball history honest — born in Kyoto in 1908, he did the rare double shift of playing the game and then stepping back to officiate it. That transition from player to umpire is genuinely fascinating to me; most guys who love the sport want to stay in the spotlight, but there's something admirable about choosing the role where nobody claps for you and everyone argues with you. He lived through the entire formative era of Japanese professional baseball, from its scrappy prewar beginnings right through the postwar boom, and passed away in 1981 — so he basically got a front-row seat (or, well, a spot on the field with a chest protector) for all of it. The records on him are sparse, which honestly fits the umpire archetype: the game couldn't happen without them, but history tends to forget their names anyway. I find that a little poignant.

Kaichi Masu (March 8, 1908 – December 18, 1981) was a Japanese baseball player and umpire born in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. He pursued a career both as a player and later as an umpire, spanning the formative era of professional baseball in Japan. He passed away in December 1981.

Name (English)

Kaichi Masu

Name (Japanese)

桝嘉一

Reading

ます かいち

Born

March 8, 1908 – December 18, 1981

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Monkey (申)

Origin

Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Height

170 cm

Occupation

Baseball Player / Baseball Umpire

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%9D%E5%98%89%E4%B8%80

Tags

• From Kyoto Prefecture
• Baseball Player
• Baseball Umpire

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.