Senichi Hoshino at Tigers

Hoshino special director announced yesterday that he was leaving Tigers to join Rakuten Golden Eagles as their new kantoku. Hoshino had originally been headhunted by the then the president of the Tigers in an attempt to end the run of poor results for the Osaka side. He firstly demanded complete control of the team, ending the problems that had bedeviled Katsuya Nomura with front office meddling in team selection and hiring. He joined Tigers for the 2002 season and brought about an immediate improvement generating a fourth place finish. He brought in new free agents and dumped old and redundant players. Hoshino's big year was in 2003 when with his revamped side and a strong batting lineup Tigers stormed to the Central League Pennant - their first since 1985. This made Hoshino an instant hero among the fans and throughout Japan. His team lost to Softbank in the Japan series but this was mainly due to home advantage.
Hoshino retired from the kantoku position at the end of 2003 ostensibly due to high blood pressure and certainly this was a problem for him. However, there were hints that he was also pressured to step down so that a Hanshin 'old boy' (Akinobu Okada) could take over the team. It had been Okada's turn before Tigers went to Hoshino. Whatever the reason he was offered the post of special director which he accepted.
Hoshino was instrumental in blocking the plan to shrink the two leagues into one league. It was his meeting with Kuma-owner which persuaded the latter to oppose the merger. With Tigers saying no, the lesser Central League teams felt they could also go against the plans and the two leagues remained. Ironically, the failure of the merger led to the formation of Rakuten - Hoshino's new club. In 2007 he returned to management leading the Japanese national team to the Asian Championships before taking it to the Olympics. This did not turn out well and Japan did not pick up a medal leading to strong criticism of Hoshino in the Japanese press. However, before the Olympics there had been talk of Hoshino as NPB commissioner something which would have been anathema to the Giants in particular. Persistant rumours exist that Hoshino was set up to fail and that certain players were instructed not to perform to their best ability. It was noteworthy that there was no further talk of Hoshino for commissoner after that.
Hoshino was known throughout his career for his fiery temperament on field though off field he was a perfect gentleman. He was known to hit players and abuse them if they underperformed but Fujimoto (who played under him) noted that if he did this it meant you mattered. If he was silent your performance wasn't important. He was very protective of his players and went out of his way to shield them from yakuza who tried to become friends with them. His tactical handling of his pitchers at Tigers was excellent and he was able to turn Igawa into a 20 game and Sawamura award winner. He also brought Jeff Williams to Tigers and started Kyuji Fujikawa on his career. Hoshino was known to want to return to management and would have liked to have taken over the Tigers again. However, with the likelihood of Mayumi being around for at least two more years the opportunity wasn't there. Hoshino would have been an ideal returnee as he would have managed the pitching much better than Mayumi and Kubo but it was not to be. Tigers fans wish him well at Rakuten - does Mikitani realise what he has got?