is a retired Japanese professional baseball submarine pitcher. He played with the Hankyu Braves in Nippon Professional Baseball from to .
Yamada won the Pacific League MVP for three years in a row (1976–1978), sharing a record with Ichiro Suzuki (1994–1996) for the most consecutive awards won. In addition, Yamada won the Japan Series MVP in 1977. He won 20 or more games four times in his career, including notching 26 victories in 1976. Yamada twice won the Pacific League earned run average championship, with marks of 2.37 in 1971 and 2.28 in 1977.
As coach of the Chunichi Dragons in , he led the team to the Central League pennant.
He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in .
In 2009, Yamada served as a coach for the Japanese team in the World Baseball Classic.