Kiyoshi Nakahata

I'll be honest, I can't think of Kiyoshi Nakahata without grinning, because the man basically built a second career out of bellowing "Zekkocho!"—"I'm in top form!"—at every possible opportunity. I love that he came up from a little town in Fukushima, went through Komazawa University, and ended up manning the infield for the Giants, but it's the post-playing version of him that really gets me. That booming, 185cm, gah-hah-hah energy is genuinely contagious; watch him laugh off a bad day and you start thinking your own mess will probably sort itself out too. He later took on managing the BayStars as their very first skipper, and even that he charged into with the same sunny, nothing-can-knock-me-down grin. Relentless optimism as a personality—that's his sharpest weapon, and I'm a little jealous of it.

Kiyoshi Nakahata is a former professional baseball player and television personality born on January 6, 1954, in Yabuki, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. He attended Komazawa University before embarking on a career in professional baseball, where he played as an infielder. After retiring from play he remained in the public eye as a commentator and entertainer, and later served as the inaugural manager of the DeNA BayStars. Standing 185 cm tall, he is widely recognized for his relentlessly upbeat personality and his trademark catchphrase "Zekkicho!" (meaning "in perfect condition").

Name (English)

Kiyoshi Nakahata

Name (Japanese)

中畑清

Reading

なかはた きよし

Born

January 6, 1954 (age 72)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Horse (午)

Origin

Yabuki, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Height

185 cm

Occupation

Baseball player / Television personality

University

Komazawa University

Motto

Private

• Xhttps://x.com/kiyoshi24gno
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E7%95%91%E6%B8%85

Tags

• From Fukushima Prefecture
• Baseball player
• Television personality

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.