Chotaro Muramatsu - Guam - 1944

Chotaro Muramatsu was a Japanese high school pitching ace who went on to play professional baseball in his home country with the Tokyo Senators. On this day, 70 years ago, Muramatsu was killed in a military flying accident.

Chotaro Muramatsu was born on May 9, 1921 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The pitching ace of the Naniwa Shogyo high school baseball team, young Muramatsu helped his team in the 14th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament final in 1937 by defeating Chukyo high school, 2-1.

Muramatsu again played at Koshien in 1938 and signed with the Tokyo Senators in 1939. Used as an outfielder his rookie season, the 17-year-old batted just .160 in 34 games. In 1940, Muramatsu played 58 games for the Senators (the team changed its name to Tsubasa in mid-season). While batting only .175 and stealing eight bases as an outfielder, the right-hander pitched 11 games with five starts for an 1-0 record and 3.79 ERA.

In 1941, Tsubasa merged with Nagoya Kinko to form Taiyo, and Muramatsu played 36 games in the outfield, batting a lowly .121. In 1942, he played 70 games, batted .192 and stole six bases.

Following the 1942 season, Chotaro Muramatsu was drafted into military service. He died in a flight training accident in Guam on June 20, 1944. He was 23 years old.