Sachio Kinugasa

Sachio Kinugasa
Third baseman
Born: (1947-01-18)January 18, 1947
Died: April 23, 2018(2018-04-23) (aged 71)
Batted: Right Threw: Right
NPB debut
May 16, 1965, for the Hiroshima Carp
Last appearance
October 22, 1987, for the Hiroshima Carp
NBP statistics
Batting average	.270
Hits	2,543
Runs batted in	1,448
Home runs	504
Stolen bases	266
Teams
Hiroshima Carp/Hiroshima Toyo Carp (1965–1987)
Career highlights and awards
13× NPB All-Star (1971, 1974–1977, 1980–1987) 3× Central League Best Nine Award (1975, 1980, 1984) Central League stolen bases leader (1976) 3× Centaral League Golden Glove Award (1980, 1984, 1986) Central League MVP (1984) Central League RBI leader (1984) Matsutaro Shoriki Award (1984) People's Honour Award (1987) Hiroshima Toyo Carp #3 retired NPB record 2,215 consecutive games played NPB record 5-game home run streak
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1996

Sachio Kinugasa (衣笠 祥雄; January 18, 1947 – April 23, 2018) was a Japanese professional baseball third baseman for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of the Nippon Professional Baseball league from 1965 to 1987. He was nicknamed Tetsujin, meaning "Iron Man". He played in a record-breaking 2,215 consecutive games, having surpassed Lou Gehrig's record by 1987.

Kinugasa is mostly remembered for his consecutive-game streak, but he ranks seventh in Nippon Professional Baseball in career home runs (504), 5th in career hits (2543) and 10th in career RBIs (1448), showing that he was one of the most consistent hitters in Japanese baseball. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.