Early years: 1992–1995 Kanemoto showed little promise in his first two seasons in the pros, falling behind as younger hitters like
Tomonori Maeda and Akira Etoh began to make names for themselves at the
ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") level. He showed so little power that
hitting coaches would tell him to try to slap the ball and use his speed to
get on base more and earned the rather unflattering nickname "
Mole Killer" for his habit of throwing the ball into the ground when trying to make a strong throw on the
defensive end. Frustrated by his shortcomings and realizing that he would be soon released from the team if he did not improve dramatically, Kanemoto began a rigorous
weight training regimen and, with the help of then-coach Kazuyoshi Yamamoto, made his way into the starting lineup in the later half of the 1994 season, hitting 17 home runs that year. He continued to make strides with his bat in 1995, hitting .274 with 24 home runs (including his first career
grand slam off then-Tigers left-hander Toshiro Yufune on August 10) and earning his first
Best Nine Award.
1996–2002 Kanemoto hit over .300 for the first time in his career in 1996 as the Carp's
No. 5 hitter, winning the
Central League monthly
Most Valuable Player award that September and hitting the first
walk-off home run of his career off then-Swallows
reliever Hiroto Kato on September 11. He added a career-high 33 home runs to the .300-plus average and drove in 82
RBI in 1997, but struggled in 1998, hitting just .253 with 21 homers and 74 RBI. However, he rebounded from the down year by hitting .293 with 34 home runs and 94 RBIs (both career highs) in 1999, playing in all 136 games and
hitting for the cycle on April 24 against the
Chunichi Dragons. In 2000, Kanemoto was made the team's cleanup hitter by default after Etoh's departure for the
Yomiuri Giants via
free agency, and he responded by hitting .315 with 30 home runs and a career-high 30
stolen bases, becoming just the seventh player in NPB history to have a .300–30–30 (
batting average, home runs, stolen bases) season. The following season (2001), he set a new Japanese professional baseball record by going 1002 consecutive
plate appearances without
grounding into a
double play and drew 128
walks, the fifth-highest single-season total in NPB history and the most by any player other than
Sadaharu Oh. Kanemoto declared for free agency in the 2002
off-season. Despite recognizing that Kanemoto was an invaluable asset to the team, the low-budget Carp upheld their longtime policy of not pursuing any player of their own that opts to declare for free agency (an attempt by the Carp to hold down their
payroll). After weeks of negotiations, Kanemoto eventually signed with the Central League rival
Hanshin Tigers.
2003 For the season, Kanemoto was given the
uniform number 6 and appointed the Tigers' new
No. 3 hitter amidst hopes that he would change the very culture of the Tigers organization, a perennial cellar-dweller that had finished last in the Central League four times in the last five years. He committed himself to his new secondary role in the
lineup, hitting just .289 with 19 home runs and 18 stolen bases but focusing on moving
runners over and taking
pitches so that teammate and fellow outfielder
Norihiro Akahoshi could steal (he led the league with 61 stolen bases that year). Kanemoto played an integral role in leading the Tigers to their first league title in 18 years. In the
Japan Series that followed the regular season, he hit four home runs, homering in three consecutive games and twice in one game (all three tying the previous Japan Series record). However, the Tigers lost to the Hawks four games to three, failing to win the championship.
2004 In , Kanemoto returned to the cleanup spot following the appointment of new
manager Akinobu Okada. He hit the fourth walk-off home run of his career off then-Dragons
ace Kenshin Kawakami on May 8 in a classic 1–0
pitchers' duel. However, he was
hit by a pitch by Dragons
closer Hitoki Iwase on July 29, tearing the
cartilage on his left wrist. While his streak of consecutive games played without missing an inning was thought to be in jeopardy, Kanemoto borrowed a lighter bat from teammate Teruyoshi Kuji and continued to play through the injury, setting a new Nippon Professional Baseball record of 701 on August 1. Despite such adversity, he put up some of his best numbers to date, hitting .317 with 34 home runs and a career-high 113 RBIs and leading the league in RBIs for the first time.
2005 Kanemoto began the season well, hitting .291 in the month of April and following it up by hitting .404 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in May, earning his second career monthly MVP award. His walk-off home run (the fifth such home run of his career) off
reliever Yusaku Iriki in an interleague game against the
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on June 10 made him just the fourth player in NPB history to hit a home run against every team in both the Central and
Pacific leagues. His home run on June 28 at
Yonago Municipal Baseball Stadium gave him the distinction of having hit home runs in the most ballparks (32) of any active NPB player (
Kazuhiro Yamauchi holds the all-time record with 39). Kanemoto reached several notable milestones this year, playing in 1000 consecutive games on August 11 against the Dragons, recording his 1000th
run scored on August 25 and his 1000th RBI on September 9 (both against the Carp). He also hit his 40th home run of the season on October 4, becoming the first Tigers player since
Randy Bass in 1986 to hit 40 home runs in a season and the first since the "Lucky Zone", the short porch in
right field, was removed from
Koshien Stadium. Kanemoto finished the year with career highs in every
Triple Crown category, hitting .327 with 40 homers and 125 RBIs and leading the league in runs scored (120), total bases (344),
slugging percentage (.615) and
OPS (1.044) at the age of 37. He led the Tigers to another league titles and was voted the Central League Most Valuable Player for the first time in his career.
2006 Kanemoto broke the world record held by
Cal Ripken Jr. for consecutive innings played of 8243 on March 31 , and set a new world record for consecutive games played without missing an inning with
904 on April 9 in a game against the
Yokohama BayStars (the previous record was also held by Ripken). He reached his milestone 1000th consecutive game played without missing an inning on August 15 against the BayStars, finishing the season with a .303 average, 26 home runs and 98 RBI.
2007 Kanemoto had somewhat of a down year in , putting up 31 homers and 95 RBIs but batting just .265 and recording his lowest OPS (.843) since 1998. That the Tigers finished last in the NPB in team batting average and runs scored might also have been a contributing factor to the media's criticism of Kanemoto. As he chose to play through a
meniscus tear to his left knee (a season-ending injury for many players), slowing him down both in the field and on the basepaths, some even alleged that Kanemoto was just "playing for his [consecutive games] streak" and that he was "hurting the team by continuing to play in such conditions" by taking playing time away from some of the Tigers' younger players. He underwent surgery on his left knee for the first time in his life in October.
2008 Kanemoto recorded his 1999th career
hit on April 6 , but did not get his 2000th hit (the 37th player to accomplish the feat in Japanese professional baseball history) until April 12 in a game against the BayStars. His hitless stretch of three games and 15
at-bats between his 1999th and 2000th career hit was an NPB record. (Incidentally, teammate
Takahiro Arai, who played with Kanemoto on both the Carp and the Tigers, got his 1000th career hit in the same game.) He won his third monthly MVP award that June, hitting .413 with six home runs and 20 RBI. Though the Tigers narrowly lost the pennant race to the rival Giants, Kanemoto finished the season with a .307 average, 27 home runs and 108 RBI, bouncing back from a disappointing 2007 campaign. He underwent surgery on his knee for the second straight year during the off-season.
2009 Despite having to sit out virtually all of Spring training due to
rehab of his left knee, Kanemoto went on a torrid streak to begin the season, hitting .521 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs and
slugging 1.146 through the first twelve games of the season. He homered in the Tigers' season opener against the Swallows on April 3, his 41st birthday, and hit three home runs in a game for the first time in his career on April 8 against the Carp, making history when he repeated the feat on April 10 against the Giants and became the first player in NPB history to homer in three consecutive plate appearances twice in the same month. Though he cooled down after his initial streak, he hit .379 with eight homers and 30 RBIs in April, setting a career high for RBIs in a single month, leading the Central League in all three Triple Crown categories and winning his fourth monthly MVP award. He also had three walk-off hits early in the season, a two-run double off Carp closer
Katsuhiro Nagakawa on April 7, an RBI single off BayStars reliever
Yuya Ishii on April 30, and a walk-off home run off Carp reliever Ryuji Yokoyama on May 12, the Tigers' 7000th franchise home run. ==Career statistics==