Senichi Hoshino, who last week clinched his fourth league pennant as a manager and the first for the nine-year-old Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, has accepted a new multiyear contract, the Pacific League champs revealed Friday.
The 66-year-old Hoshino is managing his third club. He won Central League pennants with the Chunichi Dragons in 1987 and 1999 and with the Hanshin Tigers in 2003, when he quit after the Japan Series due to poor health. Team president Yozo Tachibana said the details of the contract were not released, "due to confidentiality."
Team owner, Internet magnate Hiroshi Mikitani, tendered his skipper a new contract offer in August but had to wait until the Eagles clinched the pennant to receive Hoshino's answer.
"Winning is what matters in this business, and he gave us that in the best possible way," Tachibana said.
The club held a victory ceremony following Thursday's game against the Chiba Lotte Marines. In his greeting to the fans at Kleenex Stadium, Hoshino said, "We are going to compete in the Climax Series and the Japan Series in the belief that we'll be holding this kind of ceremony again next year."
None of Hoshino's four Japan Series teams have ever won titles.