From Developmental Player to the Top Team
Fumihito Haraguchi joined Hanshin out of Teikyo High School as the sixth-round pick in the 2009 draft. According to the profile in his interview (December 2019) published in the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology's Shokaki no Hiroba, he was injured in 2012 without having played for the top team, and became a developmental player that offseason. He returned to the registered roster on April 27, 2016, and made his first top-team appearance the same day against Yomiuri at Koshien. After making an out as a pinch hitter, he singled to left in the eighth inning. That year he played 107 games, batting .299 with 11 home runs. In 2018 he hit .315 in 82 games.
The 2019 Announcement and Return
According to the Daily Sports (December 8, 2019), Haraguchi announced on January 24, 2019, that he had colorectal cancer. The same article said he returned to game action in a farm-team game on May 8 and was called up to the top team on June 4. On June 9 against Nippon-Ham at Koshien, with the score tied 3-3, two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth, he came up as a pinch hitter and lined a walk-off single to center. At the All-Star Game in July, he hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 1 (Tokyo Dome) and a solo homer in the second inning of Game 2 (Koshien). That season he batted .276 in 43 games. In the Shokaki no Hiroba interview, Haraguchi said his quick return owed much to setting his own goals during treatment. He said that even before surgery he had pictured returning to games around Golden Week and reaching the top team during interleague play. In the same interview, he said he made the announcement because he felt something like a mission in having gotten cancer. He said that the illness made his baseball worries seem small, and that being able to worry is a kind of happiness. At his retirement press conference, he named the hit he got against Chiba Lotte after his return as a special moment.
Turning Hits and RBIs into Donations
In the 2019 offseason, Haraguchi visited Child Chemo House and presented a total of 1 million yen, combining proceeds from charity goods with his own donation. According to the same Daily Sports article, the goods were a charity item he released in March 2019. The same article reported that Haraguchi would set up the Haraguchi Fund, donating 10,000 yen for every hit or RBI from the following season. In that article, he said he hoped his results could lead to charity or donations. The club describes Child Chemo House, in Chuo Ward, Kobe, as a facility for children and young adults who need medical care, including those with childhood cancer, and their families. According to the club, donations based on his hits and RBIs began in 2020. In May 2020 he sent a message to a charity event the facility held online.
The Charity Run and the Wakabayashi Award
According to the Shokaki no Hiroba interview, Haraguchi held the Fumihito Haraguchi Charity Run Festival in Susami in January 2020. The venue was in Wakayama Prefecture. Part of the proceeds was donated to the Japan Cancer Society and others. In the interview, he said that conveying the importance of early detection and early treatment through the media is also part of his mission as a professional baseball player. The club gave Haraguchi its Wakabayashi Award, presented to players who continue community service, for fiscal 2022 (the 11th edition). The selection reasons cited his cancer awareness activities since 2019, his visits to a medical care facility for children with cancer, and his yearly donations tied to his results. According to the club, his donation in January 2024 was 680,000 yen: his 10 hits and 8 RBIs of 2023, plus 500,000 yen in activity funds from the Wakabayashi Award. His donation in January 2025 was 730,000 yen: his 14 hits and 9 RBIs of 2024, plus the same activity funds.
Staying After Free Agency and Retirement
Haraguchi played 54 games in 2023 and 52 games in 2024. After the 2024 season he exercised his free agent rights, but on December 13 the club announced he would stay. At the time he commented that he wanted to keep running around the field in the pinstriped uniform for the Tigers and for the fans, just as before. In 2025 he appeared in only 16 games, and on September 29 the club announced that he would retire at the end of the season. He held the press conference on the 30th in uniform, explaining that with the team's games still ahead, he felt it was too early for a suit. There he said that he had been able to play for 16 years with the support of many people. He also recalled the injuries and being sent down to developmental status, saying it meant a great deal that the club kept him under contract. He said that even as a young player who could not reach the top team, he kept his goals and practiced alone in the indoor facility at Naruohama. He cited not getting the results he wanted as the main reason for retiring. He told younger players to feel the joy of playing at a packed Koshien and never to forget their gratitude to the fans. NPB listed him as a voluntarily retired player on November 20. His top-team career totals are 564 games, 274 hits, 29 home runs and 152 RBIs.
The Haraguchi Fund After Retirement
According to the club, Haraguchi donated another 300,000 yen to Child Chemo House in November 2025. It was the seventh year of his results-based donations. In a comment in the same announcement, he said that while he had funded his donations with his baseball results as a player, he would now fund his community service with part of his speaking engagements. The Sponichi (June 1, 2026) reported that Haraguchi launched Gucchi of Heart - Haraguchi Fund - that day. According to the same article, the fund supports children fighting childhood cancer and their families, and gives part of his speaking income and donations from supporters to Child Chemo House and others. The fund's donation page explains that donations will go mainly to Child Chemo House.