Ritsuo Horimoto

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

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Ritsuo Horimoto

| image =

| image_size =

| team =

| number =

| position = Pitcher

| birth_date = {{birth date|1935|1|20}}

| birth_place = Osaka Prefecture

| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|1|14|1935|1|20}}

| death_place = Yokohama, Kanagawa

| bats = Right

| throws = Right

| debutleague = NPB

| debutdate =

| debutyear = 1960

| debutteam = Yomiuri Giants

| finaldate =

| finalyear = 1965

| finalteam = Tokyo Orions

| statleague = NPB

| statyear =

| stat1label = Win–loss record

| stat1value = 63–59

| stat2label = Earned run average

| stat2value = 3.18

| stat3label = Strikeouts

| stat3value = 1,273

| teams =

;As player

• Yomiuri Giants ({{by|1960}}–{{by|1962}})
• Daimai/Tokyo Orions ({{by|1963}}–{{by|1965}})

;As coach

• (Yokohama) Taiyo Whales ({{by|1977}}–{{by|1978}}; {{by|1991}}–{{by|1992}})
• Nippon Ham Fighters ({{by|1993}}–{{by|1994}})
• Uni-President Lions ({{by|1997}})

| highlights =

• Eiji Sawamura Award (1960)
• Central League Rookie of the Year Award (1960)
• 1961 Japan Series champion

| update =

}}

{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio|堀本律雄|date=July 2020}}

{{Nihongo|Ritsuo Horimoto|堀本律雄|Horimoto Ritsuo|January 20, 1935 – January 14, 2012}} was a Japanese baseball pitcher.

He played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1960 to 1962, winning both the Central League Rookie of the Year Award and the Eiji Sawamura Award in his first season. The Giants won the Japan Series the next year, and traded him for Toshio Yanagida at the end of the 1962 season. Horimoto closed his playing career with the Orions franchise, and coached the Yokohama Taiyo Whales in two stints from 1977 to 1978 and 1991 to 1992. He then joined the Nippon Ham Fighters coaching staff for two seasons, 1993 and 1994, followed by a return to coaching in 1997 with the Uni-President Lions, a Chinese Professional Baseball League team.

Horimoto died of pneumonia in Yokohama on January 14, 2012, at the age of 76.{{cite news|title=元巨人投手の堀本律雄さん死去 新人で２９勝挙げ沢村賞|url=http://www.asahi.com/sports/baseball/npb/news/TKY201201160373.html|accessdate=April 24, 2016|work=Asahi Shimbun|date=January 16, 2012|language=Japanese}}{{cite news|title=元巨人投手の堀本律雄氏死去＝プロ野球|url=http://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/5912516|accessdate=April 24, 2016|publisher=Yahoo! Japan|date=January 16, 2012|language=Japanese}}