- Sawamura Award 1997.
- CL and PL MVPs 1997.
- CL and PL Rookies of the Year 1997.
- CL Best Nine Voting 1997.
- PL Best Nine Voting 1997.
- CL Gold Glove Voting 1997.(Nov. 18)
- PL Gold Glove Voting 1997. (Nov. 18)
Fumiya Nishiguchi (Seibu Lions) received four out of five votes from the Sawamura Award selection comittee, beating out Chunichi Dragons' pitcher Masahiro Yamamoto. The Sawamura award is given to the outstanding pitcher of the season from either league. Nishiguchi tied for the Pacific League lead in wins with 15. He led both leagues in strikeouts with 192. He pitched 10 complete games (second most in the PL) and had a 3.12 ERA (seventh best in the PL).
Yamamoto, on the other hand, led both leagues in wins with 18, finished second in the CL in ERA (2.92), led the league in strikeouts with 159. Yamamoto was overlooked by the commmittee because he had only four complete games. Committee member Takehiko Bessho said bluntly, "Yamamoto just didn't have enough complete games, and a starting pitcher's job is to stay out there until the end."
Central League
Swallows' catcher Atsuya Furuta (31) received 133 of 177 first place votes to win his second career league MVP award. He became the first CL catcher to do so. Furuta finished well ahead of teammate and CL home run champ Dwayne Hosey in points751 to 460. Yokohama BayStars' relief ace Kazuhiro Sasaki finished third with 170 points.
Pacific League
In the Pacific League, Lions' pitcher Fumiya Nishiguchi (24) edged out his batterymate, catcher Tsutomu Ito for the MVP award. Ito attracted more first place votes but was fell short of Nishiguchi's point total. Nishiguchi was named on 136 of the 142 ballots cast, while Ito's name appeared on only 105 ballots. The third best point total went to Lions' shortstop Kazuo Matsui with 139.
Central League
Carp catcher Toshikazu Sawazaki (22), Hiroshima's first-round draft pick, received 148 of 178 votes. Sawazaki, a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin University, appeared in 38 games this season. He pitched 156 1/3 innings, won 12 and lost 8, with a 3.74 ERA.
Pacific League
Marines' shortstop Makoto Kosaka (23), was his team's fifth pick in the November 1996 draft. Kosaka came out of the industrial leagues where he played for JR Higashi Nihon Tohoku. He received 106 of 142 votes. Kosaka played outstanding defense at short. He appeared in every game, hit reasonably well (.261 average), drew 49 walks and stole a rookie-record 56 bases.
Pitcher Team Votes Times
Yamamoto CHU 110 2
Sasaki YOK 38
Tabata YAK 10
Ono HIR 5
Ishii,K YAK 4
Yoshii YAK 2
Catcher Team Votes Times
Furuta YAK 166 5
Tanishige YOK 3
Firstbase Team Votes Times
Lopez HIR 149 2
Komada YOK 16
Kiyohara YOM 3
Hiratsuka HAN 1
Secondbase Team Votes Times
Rose YOK 160 3
Dobashi YAK 5
Wada HAN 4
Thirdbase Team Votes Times
Gomez CHU 138 1
Eto HIR 20
Ikeyama YAK 10
Shindo YOK 1
Shortstop Team Votes Times
Ishii YOK 143 1
Miyamoto YAK 13
Nomura HIR 12
Kawai YOM 1
Outfield Team Votes Times
Matsui YOM 164 3
Suzuki YOK 160 1
Hosey YAK 136 1
Kanemoto HIR 20
Iida YAK 13
Ogata HIR 8
Haru YOK 3
Maeda HIR 1
Shimizu YOM 1
Shinjo HAN 1
Pitcher Team Votes Times
Nishiguchi SEI 127 1
Koike KIN 3
Komiyama LOT 1
Catcher Team Votes Times
Ito SEI 108 8
Jojima DAI 23
Firstbase Team Votes Times
Clark KIN 68 1
Takagi,T SEI 45
Yoshinaga DAI 8
Kokubo DAI 5
Martinez SEI 4
Wilson NIP 1
Secondbase Team Votes Times
Kokubo DAI 117 2
Kaneko NIP 7
Mizuguchi KIN 4
Hori LOT 2
Takagi,H SEI 1
Thirdbase Team Votes Times
Suzuki,K SEI 127 1
Kataoka NIP 2
Kokubo DAI 2
Shortstop Team Votes Times
Matsui SEI 126 1
Kosaka LOT 4
Tanaka NIP 1
Outfield Team Votes Times
"Ichiro" Suzuki ORX 131 4
Rhodes KIN 104 1
Sasaki SEI 78 6
Taguchi ORX 60
Otomo SEI 10
Ueda NIP 9
Ide NIP 1
DH Team Votes Times
Martinez SEI 94 1
Wilson NIP 23
Clark KIN 8
Yoshinaga DAI 6
Pitcher Team Votes Times
Kuwata YOM 89 6
Tabata YAK 37
Yamamoto CHU 14
Ono HIR 12
Galvez YOM 6
Yabu HAN 4
Yoshii YAK 2
Nomura YOK 2
Sasaki YOK 2
Hirota YAK 1
Ito HAN 1
Catcher Team Votes Times
Furuta YAK 172 6
Tanishige YOK 1
Firstbase Team Votes Times
Komada YOK 139 8
Lopez HIR 15
Kiyohara YOM 5
Kobayakawa YAK 1
Taiho CHU 1
Secondbase Team Votes Times
Tatsunami CHU 65 3
Rose YOK 39
Dobashi YAK 24
Wada HAN 20
Tsuji YAK 6
Shoda HIR 2
Nishi YOM 1
Thirdbase Team Votes Times
Shindo YOK 102 1
Ikeyama YAK 38
Gomez CHU 15
Eto HIR 10
Hoshino HAN 1
Shortstop Team Votes Times
Miyamoto YAK 133 1
Ishii YOK 27
Nomura HIR 6
Kawai YOM 1
Outfield Team Votes Times
Iida YAK 144 7
Ogata HIR 129 3
Shinjo HAN 129 4
Haru YOK 45
Matsui YOM 32
Kanemoto HIR 11
Inaba YAK 10
Suzuki YOK 7
Masuda CHU 4
Hosey YAK 3
Manaka YAK 2
Saeki YOK 1
Maeda HIR 1
Pitcher Team Votes Times
Nishiguchi SEI 48 1
Kudo DAI 29
Komiyama LOT 28
Shiozaki SEI 9
Hoshino ORX 8
Koike KIN 8
Noda ORX 3
Gross NIP 2
Akahori KIN 1
Shimoyanagi NIP 1
Catcher Team Votes Times
Ito SEI 135 10
Matoyama KIN 3
Firstbase Team Votes Times
Takagi,T SEI 60 1
Donnels ORX 7
Clark KIN 7
Ochiai NIP 7
Thompson LOT 4
Murakami KIN 2
Secondbase Team Votes Times
Oshima ORX 86 2
Kaneko NIP 35
Narahara SEI 21
Mizuguchi KIN 19
Kokubo DAI 14
Takagi,H SEI 8
Hori LOT 2
Thirdbase Team Votes Times
Kataoka NIP 87 1
Suzuki,K SEI 17
Yugamidani DAI 9
Nakamura KIN 2
Satake ORX 1
Hatsushiba LOT 1
Shortstop Team Votes Times
Matsui SEI 78 1
Kosaka LOT 59
Tanaka NIP 3
Ogawa ORX 1
Hamana DAI 1
Muto KIN 1
Outfield Team Votes Times
"Ichiro" Suzuki ORX 135 4
Taguchi ORX 124 3
Ide NIP 44 1
Otomo SEI 39
Ueda NIP 18
Akiyama DAI 14
Rhodes KIN 13
Omura KIN 9
Muramatsu DAI 9
Sasaki SEI 5
Tani ORX 2
Brooks NIP 1
Morozumi LOT 1
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