Manuel labor in Japan

Long before becoming one of baseball’s most respected hitting coaches and later manager for the Cleveland Indians and then Philadelphia Phillies, Charlie Manuel is a hard-hitting outfielder.

Really hard hitting.

Manuel dominates every level in the minor leagues before embarking on a career in the Japanese leagues, where he also dominates.

Manuel is hitting .371 with 24 homers and 60 runs batted in for the Kintetsu Buffaloes 45 years ago today when he is drilled in the face with a pitch that fractures his jaw in six places.

He returns in time to finish the 1979 with a total of 37 homers in only 97 games with 94 RBIs and a .303 batting average.

Despite playing in only 97 of Kintetsu’s 119 games, Manuel earns the Japanese Pacific League’s Most Valuable Player Award.

Manuel returns to Kintetsu in 1980 and hits .325 with a then American-born player record of 48 homers in 118 games with 129 RBIs.

He plays one more season in Japan before retiring at age 37.

Less than two years later, Manuel begins his managerial career with Minnesota’s Class A affiliate in the Midwest League.

He eventually manages 12 seasons in the major leagues – three with Cleveland, nine in Philadelphia – and retires in 2013 with 1,000 victories, two National League pennants with the Phillies and, of course, Philadelphia’s second and last World Series winner in 2008.