1959 Nippon Series - Sugiura Win Four in a Row

The 1959 Japan Series came down to a battle between the Nankai Hawks and Yomiuri Giants. The two clubs had met in the Nippon Series four previous times with Nankai unable to take a single Series.

But this year was to be different. With Sugiura chalking up 38 victories over the course of the season, he started Game One on October 24th and won a 10-7 victory to get Nankai off to a winning start. He followed that by pitching five innings in relief in Game Two the next day, getting the victory as the Hawks won 6-3.

After a day off to travel, Sugiura defeated the Giants 3-2 on October 27th throwing the complete game for Game Three.

Game Four on the 28th was rained out.

With that, Sugiura climbed the mound on the 29th to start Game Four. Sugiura went on to hold the Giants' batting order to 5 hits and no runs for a 3-0 shutout. Incredibly, Sugiura threw four consecutive games to sweep the Giants and become Nippon Ichi (#1 in Japan).

Sugiura had a blood blister pop on his right middle finger in the 5th inning of Game Four, painting the white baseball red with his power pitching.

Single handedly winning four games and losing none with an ERA of 1.41 in the Series, Sugiura was a shoe in for the Series MVP Award. In an interview after the Series, Tsuruoka-kantoku made the infamous quote, "Kamisama, Butsusama, Sugiurasama" ("God, Budah, Mr. Sugiura"). Sugiura's words were, "Hirori ni natte nakitai" ("I'd like to go off by myself and cry").

Multitudes of Osakan's flocked to congratulate their Nankai Hawks in the victory parade that followed, celebrating Nankan's Nippon Ichi victory.

[BableFish was also of great help in the translation.]