 Thus he came to be known as the "Hosei Trio", together with Kōichi Tabuchi and Masaru Tomita.Yamamoto was drafted first round by Hiroshima Carp in 1968.He began to exhibit his talent as an average and long range hitter in 1975, with which he contributed to the Carp mark its first league championship in its history, ending the season at .319 (leading hitter of the year) with 30 home runs.