was a former Yomiuri Giants

Yomiuri Giants

The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...

 player, and head of scouting (1967 – 1972) for the Giants. In 1936, Maekawa joined the Giants and contributed to their first championship the same year. After fighting in and surviving World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Maekawa played for the 1946 Hankyu Braves, the predecessor of the current Orix Buffaloes

Orix Buffaloes

The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka and Kobe, Japan. They play in the Pacific League. The team is owned by the Orix Group, a leading diversified financial services company based in Tokyo....

. Maekawa posted a record of 21-23 with a 3.34 ERA

Earned run average

In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 over four years in professional baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

. In 1967, years after his playing career was through, Maekawa was appointed the head of scouting for the Giants, and served in that capacity for almost five years until he retired from baseball management in 1972 at the age of 59.