Kazuto Tsuruoka

{{short description|Japanese baseball player and manager}}

{{Infobox NPB player

| name = Kazuto Tsuruoka
鶴岡 一人

| image = O'Doul and Tsuruoka 1949.JPG

| image_size = 250

| position = Infielder / Manager

| number =

| bats = Right

| throws = Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1916|7|27|mf=y}}

|birth_place=Kure, Hiroshima, Japan

|death_date={{death date and age|2000|3|7|1916|7|27}}

|death_place=Japan

| debutleague =JBL

| debutdate = March 28

| debutyear = 1939

| debutteam = Nankai Club

| finalleague = NPB

| finaldate = October 12

| finalyear = 1952

| finalteam = Nankai Hawks

| statleague = JBL/NPB

| stat1label =Batting average

| stat1value =.295

| stat2label =Home runs

| stat2value =61

| stat3label =Hits

| stat3value =790

| stat4label = RBIs

| stat4value = 467

| stat5label = Stolen bases

| stat5value = 143

| teams =

As player

• Nankai Club/Kinki Great Ring/Nankai Hawks (1939, 1946–1952)

As manager

• Great Ring/Nankai Hawks (1949–1968)

| highlights =

• 3× Nippon Professional Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (1946, 1948, 1951)
• Home Run leader (1939)
• RBI leader (1946)

| hoflink = Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame

| hoftype = Japanese

| hofdate = 1965

| hofvote =

| hofmethod = Selection Committee for the Players

}}

{{nihongo|Kazuto Tsuruoka|鶴岡 一人|Tsuruoka Kazuto|extra=July 27, 1916 – March 7, 2000}}, also known as Kazuto Yamamoto, was a Japanese former professional baseball infielder and manager in the Japan Baseball League (JBL) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Tsuruoka played for the same franchise in 1939, and from 1946 to 1952, which during his career changed names from the Nankai Club to Kinki Great Ring, and ultimately to the Nankai Hawks. (Tsuruoka did not play professional baseball from 1940 to 1945.) In 1939 he won the JBL home run title with 10. Returning to the JBL after World War II, in 1946 he won the JBL Most Valuable Player Award, repeating the feat in 1948. His team won the JBL championship both those years.

In 1949, he was named player-manager of the Hawks. His playing career ended after the 1952 season, but he stayed on as the team's manager through the 1968 season, guiding the team to Japan Series championships in 1959 and 1964. His managerial record overall was 1773–1140, for a winning percentage of .609.

Tsuruoka was elected by the Selection Committee for the Players to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.{{Cite web|url=http://english.baseball-museum.or.jp/baseball_hallo/detail/detail_020.html|title=Hall of Famers List {{!}} The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|website=english.baseball-museum.or.jp|language=en|access-date=2020-04-14|archive-date=2016-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307204719/http://english.baseball-museum.or.jp/baseball_hallo/detail/detail_020.html|url-status=dead}}

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{{s-ach|aw}}

{{succession box | before = N.A.
Tadashi Wakabayashi | title = Japanese Baseball League MVP| years = {{baseball year|1946}}
{{baseball year|1948}} | after = Tadashi Wakabayashi
Fumio Fujimura}}

{{s-end}}