Naotaka Makino, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and credited with reforming high school baseball, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, his family said. He was 95.
A native of Kagoshima Prefecture, he was shortstop for the Keio University team and a member of the national team in 1934 that took on a U.S. all-star team that included famed slugger Babe Ruth.
As a manager, he led the All-Kanebo team to three successive intercity baseball tournament championships from 1950 to 1952.
As the fourth president of the High School Baseball Federation from 1981 to 2002, Makino reformed the group, including allowing non-Japanese high schools to compete against Japanese schools.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.
