Atsuya Furuta

Who is Atsuya Furuta?

Atsuya Furuta is a Japanese former baseball player and player-manager for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball club in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Drafted in the 2nd round in 1990, Furuta became a leader for the Swallows as a catcher and became the first player-manager in Japanese baseball in 29 years, since Katsuya Nomura in 1977. In addition to his skills on the field, he is also known for leading a successful two day strike in 2004 as the head of the Japanese baseball players union.

He remains one of the most prominent figures in Japanese baseball because of his leadership both on and off the field. In June 2007, Furuta removed himself from the active roster so he could focus on managing the floundering Swallows. He retired as player and manager in the same season.