Toshio Kurosawa (baseball)

The next year, Nagyoa Kinko merged with the Tokyo Senators to form the Taiyō Baseball Club, and Kurosawa joined the combined team.

In 1944, Nishitetsu disbanded as a result of worsening finances and a shortage of players due to the draft during World War II.

In the shortened season that year (35 games), Kurosawa hit for a career-high .348 batting average (2nd in the league) at leadoff, playing a key supporting role while many Kyojin regulars were on active duty.

When the league returned to play after the war in 1946, Kurosawa hit cleanup in a lineup that included Giants legends Tetsuharu Kawakami and Shigeru Chiba.

[5] In the middle of the 1947 season, Kurosawa contracted typhoid fever,[5] and soon after he was admitted to The University of Tokyo Hospital he died on June 23 at the age of 33.

[6] Kurosawa had steadfastly continued to play through his worsening condition, and it is said that his commitment to the team ultimately cost him his life.