JAPAN – The Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) recently named Eiji Hatta as President to succeed Tatsuro Matsumae. BFJ is an auxiliary joint organization for international competition, comprising Japan Student Baseball Association (JSBA) and Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA-the industrial league).

Hatta, President and Professor of Economics at Doshisha University in Kyoto, was elected President of JSBA. Norio Ichino, Chairman of Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd., was chosen to replace Masatake Matsuda as President of JABA.

Upon Hatta’s confirmation as President, Matsumae will join Matsuda as another Honorary President of BFJ.

Hatta graduated from Ph.D. Course, University of California, Berkeley in 1977. After having served as President of All-Japan University Baseball Federation, Mr. Hatta was elected on March 5 as President of Japan Student Baseball Association which oversees University baseball (374 registered teams with total of about 20,000 players) and High School baseball (4,200 schools with total of 170,000 players.) in Japan, as well as President of Baseball Federation of Japan.

IBAF President Riccardo Fraccari sent Hatta a congratulatory note expressing his desire to strongly promote baseball globally and Japan will surely play an important role in this development. Hatta responded by wishing to enhance relations with IBAF under the leadership of Fraccari.

Source: International Baseball Federation (IBAF)

Photo courtesy of doshisha.ac.jp

Tags: Japan