Sadaharu Oh
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Sadaharu Oh ( Japanese: , ''Ō Sadaharu''; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born Chinese former
professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...
player and manager who is currently the
chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...
of
Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...
(NPB). Oh's playing career spanned across four decades, during which he played for only the
Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...
. He holds the world career
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
record at 868, over 100 more than
MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
record holder
Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...
. Oh batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Originally signed with the powerhouse Giants in 1959 as a
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
, Oh was soon converted to a full-time hitter. Under the tutelage of coach Hiroshi Arakawa, Oh developed his distinctive "
flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...
" leg kick. It took Oh three years to blossom, but he went on to dominate Nippon Professional Baseball. He was a 15-time home run champion and was named to the Central League All-Star team 18 times. More than just a power hitter, Oh was a five-time batting champion and won the Japanese
Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...
's batting triple crown twice. With Oh at first base, the Yomiuri Giants won 11
Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...
championships, including 9 in a row from to . Oh was named the Central League's
Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...
nine times. In addition to the world career home run record, Oh set many other NPB batting records, including
runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...
(RBI) (2,170),
slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...
(.634), bases on balls (2,390), and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.080). He held Japan's single-season home run record with 55, until Wladimir Balentien broke the record in 2013. In 1977, Oh became the first recipient of the
People's Honour Award is one of the commendations bestowed by the Prime Minister of Japan on people in recognition of their accomplishments in sport, entertainment, and other fields. The award, not restricted to Japanese nationals, was created in 1977 by the then-Prime ...
. He was inducted into the
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The , commonly known outside of Japan as the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, is a hall of fame and museum in Tokyo dedicated to professional baseball, with a prominent focus on professional baseball in Japan. The Hall is intended to honor and co ...
in 1994. After retiring as a player, Oh served as the Giants' manager from 1984 to 1988. He also managed the Fukuoka Daiei/Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks from 1995 to 2008. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Ō Sadaharu"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 758.
He was the manager of the Japanese national team in the
inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...
World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...
, which defeated
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
for the championship. He is currently the chairman of the Hawks.


Early life

Oh was born in
Sumida, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Sumida City. As of 1 April 2025, the ward has an estimated population of 287,766 and a population dens ...
, as the fifth of six children (four daughters and two sons) of a Japanese mother Tomi Oh (née Tozumi ) and a Chinese father (王仕福 ''Wáng Shìfú'' from Qingtian County,
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
. His older twin sister died when they were 15 months old, and his younger sister died shortly after she was born, He was eventually raised as the youngest of four remaining children. Although born in Japan, Oh is a citizen of the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
(ROC), as his father had left for Japan when the ROC still governed mainland China and chose to retain his ROC citizenship.


Playing career


Prep career

Oh managed to make his high school team, and, in 1957, made it to the Spring Koshien Tournament with the second-year Oh as its ace
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
. Before the tournament started, Oh suffered serious blisters on two fingers of his pitching hand. Oh pitched the entire first game at Koshien and his team won. The next day, Oh pitched another complete game and earned the victory, but the blisters worsened. Oh faced the prospect of pitching two more games on consecutive days for the championship with injuries. Oh pitched and won another complete game, enduring the pain. Oh was able to just make it through his fourth complete game in four days, squeaking out a one-run victory. Oh won the championship, though was not allowed to play in the Kokutai due to being Chinese.


Professional career

In 1959, he signed his first professional contract as a pitcher for the
Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...
. However, Oh was not a strong enough pitcher to succeed professionally, and soon switched to first base, working diligently with coach Hiroshi Arakawa to improve his hitting skills. This led to the development of Oh's distinctive "flamingo" leg kick. His
batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
jumped from .161 in his rookie season to .270 in 1960, and his
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
s more than doubled. His performance dipped slightly in both statistical categories in 1961, but Oh truly blossomed in 1962, when he hit 38 home runs. In 1964, Oh hit 55 home runs, a single-season record he owned for 37 years until it was tied by Tuffy Rhodes in 2001. Oh surpassed 50 home runs in a season two other times, in 1973 and 1977. Oh became friends with
Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. Considered one ...
, his contemporary in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
. The two squared off in a
home run derby The Home Run Derby is an annual home run hitting competition in Major League Baseball (MLB) customarily held the day before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, MLB All-Star Game, which places the contest on a Monday in July. In the context ...
before an exhibition game at Korakuen Stadium on 2 November 1974, after Aaron eclipsed
Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...
's home run record. By that time, Oh was running away with the Japanese home run record, having become the first Japanese baseball player to hit 600 career home runs that year. Aaron won, 10–9. His hitting exploits benefited from the fact that for most of his career he batted third in the Giants' lineup, with another very dangerous hitter, Shigeo Nagashima, batting fourth; the two players forming the feared "O-N Cannon". In his autobiography, ''Sadaharu Oh: A Zen Way of Baseball'' (), Oh said he and Nagashima were not close, rarely spending time together off the field. Sadaharu Oh retired in 1980 at age 40, having amassed 2,786 hits (third after Isao Harimoto (Jang Hoon) and Katsuya Nomura), 2,170 RBIs, a lifetime
batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of .301, and 868 home runs.


Managing career

Sadaharu Oh was the assistant manager of the
Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...
between 1981 and 1983. He became the
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
of the Yomiuri Giants between 1984 and 1988. He led the Giants to one Central League pennant in 1987. He was asked to retire as Giants manager after the 1988 season. Whiting, Robert. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), p. 3. In 1995, he returned to baseball as the manager of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (later the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks). Oh led the Hawks to three
Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...
pennants in 1999, 2000 and 2003, and two
Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...
titles in 1999 and 2003. In 2006, Oh managed the Japan national baseball team, winning the championship in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic over
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
. On July 5, Oh announced that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Hawks to combat a stomach tumor. On July 17, 2006, Oh underwent
laparoscopic surgery Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medli ...
to remove his stomach and its surrounding
lymph node A lymph node, or lymph gland, is a kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system and the adaptive immune system. A large number of lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by the lymphatic vessels. They are major sites of lymphocytes that includ ...
s. The surgery was considered to be a success. Although the tumor was confirmed to be cancerous, it was caught in early stages. He returned to coaching the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, although he announced he would retire at the end of the 2008 season as manager, stepping into a front office role for the Hawks, which he has held ever since.


Home run record controversy

On three occasions, foreign-born players challenged Oh's single-season home run record of 55 and faced Oh-managed teams late in the season. On each occasion, Oh's pitchers refused to throw strikes to them. In 1985, American Randy Bass, playing for the
Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...
, came into the last game of the season against the Oh-managed Giants with 54 home runs. Bass was intentionally walked four times on four straight pitches each time. Bass reached over the plate on the fifth occasion and batted the ball into the outfield for a single. After the game, Oh denied ordering his pitchers to walk Bass, but Keith Comstock, an American pitcher for the Giants, later stated that Giants coach and former Giant Tsuneo Horiuchi had threatened a fine of $1,000 for every strike that any Giants pitcher threw to Bass. The magazine Takarajima investigated the incident and reported that the Giants front office had likely ordered the team not to allow Bass an opportunity to tie or break Oh's record, likely because ace Suguru Egawa went against this and pitched strikes to Bass anyway. For the most part, the Japanese media remained silent on the incident, as did league commissioner Takeso Shimoda.Whiting, Robert,
Equaling Oh's HR record proved difficult
, ''
Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'', October 31, 2008, p. 12.
In 2001, American Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, playing for the
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stadi ...
, hit 55 home runs with several games left. The Buffaloes played the Oh-managed Fukuoka Daiei Hawks on a late weekend series in
Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...
. Rhodes was intentionally walked during each at-bat. Hawks catcher Kenji Johjima could be seen grinning as he caught the intentional balls. Again, Oh denied any involvement and Hawks pitching coach Yoshiharu Wakana stated that the pitchers acted on his orders, saying, "I just didn't want a foreign player to break Oh's record." Rhodes completed the season with 55 home runs. Hawks pitcher Keisaburo Tanoue went on record saying that he wanted to throw strikes to Rhodes and felt bad about the situation. In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season and his team played Oh's Hawks. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes to Cabrera, but most of them ignored his order and threw balls well away from the plate. This was also due to the fact Cabrera was walked by other teams in 2002, as he was likely on steroids after he was caught with Winstrol pills prior to signing with the Lions and was eventually named on the
Mitchell Report The ''Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball'', informally known as the Mitchell Report, is the res ...
in 2007. After the game, Oh stated, "If you're going to break the record, you should do it by more than one. Do it by a lot." In the wake of the most recent incident involving Cabrera,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
listed Oh's single-season home run record on its list of "The Phoniest Records in Sports". Cabrera called the whole thing "racist".Coskrey, Jason
"Bass says Balentien won't get easy path to Oh's record"
''Japan Times'' (September 6, 2013).
Wladimir Balentien, a
Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...
an born player, broke Oh's single-season home run record on September 15, 2013, by hitting his 56th and 57th home runs of the season in a game against the
Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...
. Balentien ended that season with 60 home runs.


Personal life

Oh was married to , and had three daughters with her. She died of
stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...
, the same disease he had in 2006, in December 2001 at age 57. Their second daughter, Rie (born in 1970), is a sportscaster and presenter on the
J-Wave J-Wave is an commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, including J-pop, C-pop, and Western music, covering a wide range of formats. The station i ...
radio network.


In popular culture

* Oh is mentioned in the
Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...
song " Hey Ladies": "I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh." * Oh is Mentioned in ''
A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of '' The Cosby Show''. It aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987, to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable ( Lisa Bonet) an ...
'' season 2 episode 20, "No means No". * A character in the manga series ''
Kinnikuman is a Japanese manga series created by the duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It follows Suguru Kinniku, a superhero who must win a wrestling tournament to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku. ...
'' is named after Sadaharu Oh. * Oh is mentioned in the manga series '' Hajime no Ippo''. * Oh is mentioned in the 1979 movie '' The Bad News Bears Go to Japan''.


Miscellaneous

* In 1988, Oh and Hank Aaron created the World Children's Baseball Fair (WCBF), to increase the popularity of baseball by working with youngsters. *On December 4, 2007, Oh said in
Chiyoda, Tokyo , known as Chiyoda City in English,
." ''City of Chiyoda''. Retrieved on December 28, 2008.
is a S ...
that it is just a matter of time before his career record of 868 home runs will be broken: "I think the 868 record will be broken. There's nobody near that mark in Japan, but I think
Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (ML ...
can do it", he added. "He has the ability to hit 1,000." (Rodriguez retired seven years later, at the age of 41, with 696 home runs.) *In 2002 and 2005, he was named by President
Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...
of Taiwan as
Ambassador-at-Large An ambassador-at-large is a diplomat, a secretary of state, secretary, or a minister (government), minister of the highest rank who is accredited to represent a country and its people internationally. Unlike an ambassador-in-residence, who is us ...
of the Republic of China. *President
Ma Ying-Jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...
honored Sadaharu Oh with the "Order of Brilliant Star" on February 5, 2009, in
Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...
. Oh called receiving the award, "The highest honor of his life." *During the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo (which took place in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), he was a part of a group that carried the torch in the stadium.


Statistics


References


External links

*
Oh for Cooperstown? Part I by Jim Albright


{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh, Sadaharu 1940 births Living people People from Sumida Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks managers Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Award winners People's Honour Award winners Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Baseball people from Tokyo World Baseball Classic managers Yomiuri Giants managers Yomiuri Giants players Japanese people of Chinese descent Nippon Professional Baseball players with retired numbers Nippon Professional Baseball hitting Triple Crown winners