Time Machine: Remembering Takeshi Koba

This story originally ran in the Japanese newspaper Yukan Fuji in 2021.

TOKYO — I read with sadness of the passing of Takeshi Koba, the former NPB player and manager, who died in November at the age of 85. I have followed Koba’s career ever since 1975 when he took over as manager of the Hiroshima Carp, and led the ‘Aka-Heru’ (Red Helmet) team to glory behind Carp Hall of Fame stars Sachio Kinugasa and Koji Yamamoto. They were an aggressive, dynamic and powerful team that was a lot of fun to watch.

Koba replaced Carp manager Joe Lutz, the first white gaijin manager in the history of the NPB, less than a month into the 1975 season. Lutz, a former Cleveland Indians coach, had been hired by the Carp to pilot the team after spending the 1974 season with the club as a coach, during which he enticed Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn to serve as spring camp pitching instructor. The Carp hoped the drastic move could revive sagging interest in the team which had dropped to a new low after numerous lackluster second-division finishes. It was all the more daring because Lutz spoke not a word of Japanese and had to run the team through an interpreter.