Photo: 博友社 (Hakuyu-sha Co., Ltd.) / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Four hundred wins. In a sport that now treats two hundred as a monument, Masaichi Kaneda finished with four hundred, and no pitcher in Japanese baseball has come near it since. Born in Inazawa, Aichi in 1933, the tall left-hander won the Eiji Sawamura Award in 1956 and was later enshrined in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that feels almost redundant next to the number itself. What strikes me is that he never let the record speak alone. After his playing days he managed, and he stayed a loud, unfiltered presence on television, which is why Japanese fans remember his voice as clearly as his statistics. He died in 2019 at the age of eighty-six. Most records eventually fall to someone. This one, honestly, looks safe forever, and the man behind it made sure nobody would forget who set it.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Masaichi Kaneda
- Name (Japanese)
- 金田正一
- Born
- August 1, 1933 – October 6, 2019
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Rooster
- Origin
- Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
- Height
- 184 cm
- Occupation
- baseball player / tarento / professional baseball player / baseball coach
2. Background
- High school
- Nagoya City Ozone Junior High School
Awards & achievements
- Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1956 Eiji Sawamura Award
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%91%E7%94%B0%E6%AD%A3%E4%B8%80
Frequently asked questions
When was Masaichi Kaneda born?
August 1, 1933 – October 6, 2019.
Where is Masaichi Kaneda from?
Masaichi Kaneda is from Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
What does Masaichi Kaneda do?
Masaichi Kaneda works as baseball player, tarento, professional baseball player, baseball coach.
How tall is Masaichi Kaneda?
Masaichi Kaneda is 184 cm.
Baseball player — see all → · Tarento — see all → · More people from Japan →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-07-26
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.