Tokyo, 11 November, /AJMEDIA/
Japanese Hall of Fame pitcher Choji Murata has died after being taken to hospital following a fire at his house in Tokyo early Friday, police said. He was 72.
Murata was found on the burned-out second floor of the house, and police are investigating the cause of the fire.
Murata is known for the strong comeback he made after undergoing the elbow ligament reconstruction procedure known as Tommy John surgery in Los Angeles in August 1983. He had a 17-5 win-loss record in 1985.
The hard-throwing right-hander retired from professional baseball in 1990 with 215 wins, all of them for the then Lotte Orions.
In September this year, Murata was arrested at Tokyo’s Haneda airport for an alleged assault on a female security officer after he was stopped at a metal detector check due to his mobile phone.
