Major league
Sakata was first called up to the major leagues by the Brewers in 1977. He started 50 games at second base and had a .985 fielding percentage, but hit only .162 in 154 at bats.[2] The Brewers called him up again in 1978, and he hit .192 in 30 games, with a .975 fielding percentage. In 1979, he only played four games for the Brewers.[2]
In 1980, he appeared in 43 games for the Orioles, hitting only .193, playing primarily at second base, with a .984 fielding percentage in over 200 innings in the field.[2] He began 1981 as a reserve and missed time in May due to a sprained ankle. In September, he took over the shortstop position, replacing longtime Oriole shortstop Mark Belanger.[12][13] Sakata was humble about this, saying, "I never looked at myself as the next Mark Belanger. It would have been pointless and arrogant for anybody to feel that way." He was the starting shortstop for the Orioles when Cal Ripken Jr., began his consecutive games played streak. When manager Earl Weaver decided to shift Ripken to short at the beginning of July 1982, he moved Sakata to second, keeping Sakata in the lineup.[14]
1981 was the first season Sakata hit over .200 in the major leagues. 1982 saw career highs for Sakata in virtually every category, as he started 94 games (44 at second base and 50 at shortstop). He hit .260, with six home runs, 18 doubles, 40 runs, and 31 runs batted in (RBI), in 343 at bats. He had a .977 fielding percentage at second base, and .958 at shortstop.[2] After that, his most at-bats in a major league season would be 168, and most starts, 38.[2]
Sakata was on the 1983 Orioles team that won the World Series.[15] He is remembered in Orioles lore during the 1983 pennant race when he substituted to play catcher, a position he had not played since childhood, in the tenth inning of the August 24, 1983, game at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The Orioles had replaced their starting catcher and his backup while rallying to tie the game in the ninth inning. Three Toronto Blue Jays hitters reached first base; each one took a big lead, thinking it would be easy to steal a base on Sakata. Tippy Martinez proceeded to pick each Blue Jays base runner off first base. Sakata then hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the tenth to win the game.[16][17] Also in 1983, Sakata ended a forgettable streak against the Chicago White Sox. For the first 6 seasons of his career, the White Sox were the only American League team Sakata had failed to get a hit against, having zero hits in his first 66 career at-bats against them, before finally getting a hit against the White Sox on August 11, 1983, in the 7th inning against Floyd Bannister.
Sakata played parts of his final three major league seasons with the Orioles (1985), and as a free agent signing with the Oakland Athletics (1986) and the New York Yankees (1987).[8] While sparsely used in Oakland, he hit .353 in 34 at bats during his penultimate season.[2] He spent part of each of these seasons with the teams' Triple-A affiliates. Playing for Oakland's Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Tigers, he may have had his best year in baseball as a batter, hitting .313, with 27 doubles, 66 runs, and 48 RBIs in 399 at bats; with 52 bases-on-balls and 11 stolen bases without getting caught stealing.[10]
