1940 in Japanese Baseball

1940 in baseball
Japanese baseball
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<< 1939 1941 >>

1940 in Japanese baseball

Dai-Nippon Baseball League

Standings

Bold indicates league champion

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	ERA	Manager(s)
Tokyo Kyojin	104	76	28	0	0.731	0.0	439	221	0.238	1.56	Sadayoshi Fujimoto
Hanshin	104	64	37	3	0.630	10.5	400	240	0.223	1.66	Kenjiro Matsuki
Hankyu	104	61	38	5	0.611	12.5	317	248	0.214	1.57	Toshiharu Inokawa
Tsubasa	105	56	39	10	0.581	15.5	344	298	0.206	2.00	Hisanori Karita
Nagoya	104	58	41	5	0.582	15.5	334	279	0.191	1.90	Tokuro Konishi
Kurowashi	104	46	54	4	0.462	28.0	275	335	0.197	2.24	Toyo Sawa
Nagoya Kinko	104	34	63	7	0.361	38.5	310	425	0.200	2.98	Genzaburo Okada
Nankai	105	28	71	6	0.295	45.5	242	424	0.196	2.44	Kazuo Takasu
Lion	104	24	76	4	0.250	50.0	225	416	0.187	2.76	Katsuo Takada

Leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average	Kazuo Kito	Lion	.321
Runs	Toshio Shiraishi	Tokyo Kyojin	70
Hits	Kazuo Kito	Lion	124
Doubles	Yasuya Hondo	Hanshin	26
Triples	Kazuo Kito	Lion	13
Home Runs	Tetsuharu Kawakami	Tokyo Kyojin	9
Runs Batted In	Haruyasu Nakajima	Tokyo Kyojin	67
Stolen Bases	Masayoshi Ishida	Nagoya	32
Walks	Masayoshi Yoshiwara	Tokyo Kyojin	83

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
ERA	Jiro Noguchi	Tsubasa	0.93
Wins	Victor Starfin	Tokyo Kyojin	38
Losses	Masayoshi Nakayama	Nagoya Kinko	29
Innings Pitched	Tadashi Kameda	Kurowashi	456.2
Appearances	Masayoshi Nakayama	Nagoya Kinko	61
Hits Allowed	Masayoshi Nakayama	Nagoya Kinko	305
Home Runs Allowed	Saburo Asaoka	Tsubasa	8
Strikeouts	Tadashi Kameda	Kurowashi	297
Base-on-Balls	Tadashi Kameda	Kurowashi	273

Award Winners

Award	Player	Team	Position	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W - L	SV	IP	HA	HRA	BB	SO	ERA
Most Valuable Player	Victor Starfin	Tokyo Kyojin	P	171	13	43	0	28	0	.251	.257	.304	38 - 12		436.0	241	3	145	245	0.97

Best Nine

The following players were part of the 1940 Best Nine team.

Position	Player	Team
P	Victor Starffin	Tokyo Kyojin
C	Yoshio Tanaka	Hanshin
1B	Tetsuharu Kawakami	Tokyo Kyojin
2B	Hisanori Karita	Tsubasa
3B	Shigeru Mizuhara	Tokyo Kyojin
SS	Fujio Ueda	Hankyu
OF	Kazuo Kito	Lion
	Haruyasu Nakajima	Tokyo Kyojin
	Den Yamada	Hankyu

High School Baseball

The 26th National High School Baseball Championship featured a total of 617 schools competing for 22 spots in the finals at Koshien. In the championship game Kaisou Central High School (Wakayama) defeated Shimada High School (Shizuoka) by a score of 2 - 1.

The 17th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 20 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game Gifu High School (Gifu) defeated Kyoto High School (Kyoto) by a score of 2 - 1.

University Baseball

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League

Season	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Spring	Keio, Meiji, Rikkio			Waseda	Hosei	Imperial
Fall	Meiji	Keio	Waseda	Hosei	Imperial	Rikkio

Tohto University Base Ball League

Season	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Fall	Senshu	Nihon, Chuo		Tokyo Agriculture, Tokyo Tech		Kokugakuin
Fall	Senshu, Nihon		Chuo	Tokyo Agriculture	Tokyo Tech, Kokugakuin

Kansai 6 University Baseball League

Season	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
Spring	Kansai	Doshisha	Ritsumeikan	Kyoto	Kwansei Gakuin	Kobe Commercial
Fall	Kansai	Doshisha	Kyoto	Ritsumeikan	Kwansei Gakuin	Kobe Commercial

International Baseball

A baseball demonstration event was scheduled at the Olympics in Tokyo before the Games were canceled due to World War II.