Senichi Hoshino

Senichi Hoshino (星野 仙一, Hoshino Sen'ichi; January 22, 1947 – January 4, 2018) was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player and manager.

As a player, he shined as a highlight pitcher on varying levels of struggling seasons for the Chunichi Dragons. He won the Eiji Sawamura Award for his saves in 1974 as the team won their first Central League pennant in twenty years. He pitched his final season in 1982, the same year the Dragons went to the Japan Series. He became manager of the Dragons in 1987 and managed them to a Central League pennant in 1988 before departing the team in 1991. He returned in 1996 and managed for five years, leading them to the pennant again in 1999, where they lost again in the Japan Series. He resigned in 2001 and joined the Hanshin Tigers the following year. In 2003, he led the Hanshin Tigers to their first Central League pennant in eighteen years before retiring for health reasons at the close of the loss in the 2003 Japan Series.

In 2007, he managed the Japanese national team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In October 2010, Hoshino was hired as manager of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He led the Eagles to a Pacific League pennant to become the second person to win league pennants with three teams. On his sixth trip to the Japan Series, he won the championship; he retired the following year and the Golden Eagles subsequently retired his number. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.