I have to be honest here - I'd been kind of hoping that I'd never write this post. I know I was fighting against actuarial probabilities, especially given that he'd had a stroke 21 years ago, but I was really hoping he'd beat the odds and live well into his 90's and I'd have stopped writing before I had to write this.
Most Americans assume that Sadaharu Oh is the most famous Japanese baseball player from the pre-Nomo and Ichiro days. And on a world wide stage, that's probably true. But the most famous baseball player in Japan was Shigeo Nagashima. He passed away from pneumonia earlier this week at age 89.
Nagashima was born in what is now Sakura-city in Chiba-prefecture. Surprisingly, he was a Tigers fan growing up and his favorite player was Fumio Fujimura. He started playing baseball in elementary school and continued through high school at what I think was then called Chiba Sakura Daiichi High School. He drew some attention from a corporate league team after graduating but his father wanted him to get an education so he instead enrolled at Rikkio University in Tokyo.
Tragedy struck as his father passed away during his freshman year at Rikkio but he remained there (despite briefly considering dropping out to join the Chunichi Dragons who apparently rebuffed his offer). By his sophomore year, he was the starting third baseman for the team. He and teammates Tadashi Sugiura and Kingo Motoyashiki were referred to as the "Rikkio Three Crows". He won led the Tokyo Big Six in batting in both the Spring 1956 season and the Fall 1957 season, his final one in college. He won five straight Best 9 awards from Fall 1955 to Fall 1957. He hit eight home runs during his college career which was the record at the time. He helped the team win back-to-back championships in the Spring and Fall seasons in 1957.
1974/75 Calbee #499 (w/Tadashi Sugiura)
He very nearly signed with the Nankai Hawks (where Sugiura went) after graduation but his mother begged him to sign with a team in Tokyo so he instead signed with the Yomiuri Giants. He hit seven home runs in his first training camp with the team in 1958, raising expectations. He struck out four times against Masaichi Kaneda and the Swallows on Opening Day, though. He recovered after that, however, and ended his rookie season with a .305 average and league leading totals in home runs (28) and RBIs (92). He won the Central League Rookie Of The Year award (with Sugiura winning the Pacific League award) and he appeared on the cover of the first ever issue of Shukan Baseball with Tatsuro Hirooka in April.
1998 BBM #556
1959 would be significant for two reasons. The first is that the Giants signed a kid pitcher out of Waseda Jitsugyo High School. It would take a couple seasons for Sadaharu Oh to become the feared slugger that we're familiar with but this was his rookie season. He and Nagashima would be teammates for the remainder of Nagashima's career and would be dubbed the "ON Cannon" with Oh batting third in the lineup and Nagashima batting cleanup.
1992 BBM #478
The pair would hit home runs in the same game a record 106 times. The first time they did it was in the other significant event of 1959 - the Emperor's Game. Emperor Hirohito attended the game between the Giants and Tigers at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo on June 25th, the first time an Emperor had attended a professional baseball game. Oh had a game-tying two run home run in the bottom of the seventh which set the stage for Nagashima to hit a sayonara home run in the bottom of the ninth.
2000 Calbee ON-07
I'm not going to go year-by-year through the rest of Nagashima's career because that'll make this post way to long. Suffice to say he was very good. He won the Central League batting crown six times (1959-61, 1963, 1966 and 1971) and led the league in home runs twice (1958 and 1961) and RBIs five times (1958, 1963 and 1968-70). He won five Central League MVP awards (1961, 1963, 1966, 1968 and 1971). He won the Best 9 award for third base in every season of his 17 year career. The Diamond Glove award (now called the Golden Glove) didn't start until 1972 but he won the first two of those awards for third basemen. He was selected to the All Star team every year of his career although he did not participate in the 1964 games due to injury.
He played in 13 Nippon Series, losing in the first two in 1958 and 1959 (to Sugiura's Hawks) but winning in 1961, 1963 and the V9 years of 1965-1973. He won a record four Nippon Series MVP awards (1963, 1965, 1969 and 1970). His 25 home runs in Nippon Series play is second only to Oh's 29. He hit four home runs in a Series twice (1969 and 1970), a feat that has only been matched by Kenji Johjima (2000 and 2003). He homered in three consecutive at bats in the 1970 Series which I think has never been done by anyone else.
2014 Epoch Shigeo Nagashima National Treasures #06
Nagashima's popularity was such that his marriage in 1965 was telecast nationwide. When he decided to retire at the end of the 1974 season, his retirement ceremony on October 14th before a packed Korakuen Stadium was rated one of the top events of 1974 (and later the top baseball event of the 1970's, topping Oh passing Henry Aaron). The Giants would sweep the Dragons in a doubleheader with Oh and Nagashima both homering in the first game for the 106th and final time. Nagashima gave a speech after the game that's been compared to Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech, thanking the fans for supporting him throughout his career. The image of him standing alone on the pitcher's mound with the Korakuen Stadium scoreboard behind him is iconic. (UPDATE - Nippon Baseball Retro has an English translation of his speech)
2000 BBM 20th Century Best 9 #S-03
I'm not sure exactly when they did it but the Giants retired Nagashima's uniform number 3. I've always felt it's kind of neat bit of trivia that there have been three Hall Of Famers to wear the number 3 with the Giants - Haruyasu Nakajima, Shigeru Chiba and Nagashima with Nagashima, obviously, being the last one.
2001 BBM #530
He took over as manager of the Giants from Tetsuharu Kawakami and it didn't go well at first. The Giants finished last in 1975, the only time in their history this had happened. They rebounded in 1976, however, winning their first Central League pennant in three years although they lost to the Hankyu Braves in the Nippon Series. 1977 was a repeat of 1976 with the Giants again winning the Central League and again falling to the Braves in the Series. They narrowly lost the 1978 pennant to the Swallows but dropped to fifth in 1979. They rebounded to finish in third in 1980 but it wasn't enough to save his job and he was let go by the team at the end of the year.
1977 Calbee #145 (w/Masaichi Kaneda)
He spent the 1980's as a "ronin" (according to his Japanese Wikipedia page), traveling around to watch baseball. He did some TV commentary and was approached by several teams about becoming their manager but declined all of them in hopes that he'd be rehired by the Giants. In the meantime he was elected to the Hall Of Fame in 1988 and got to see his son Kazushige make his debut with the Yakult Swallows that same year.
He was rehired as Giants manager in late 1992, replacing Motoshi Fujita (who had replaced Nagashima 12 years earlier). His first act as manager was to beat out Chunichi, Daiei and Hanshin for the rights to Hideki Matsui in that fall's draft. The team would make a deal with the Swallows to acquire Kazushige Nagashima so that he could manage his son.
1993 BBM #475
The Giants finished third that year but the following year they narrowly beat out the Dragons for the CL pennant and beat the Lions in the Nippon Series for Nagashima's first championship as a manager.
1999 BBM Mr. Giants #G85
The Giants would win another pennant in 1996 but would lose in the Series to Ichiro and the Orix BlueWave. They'd drop to fourth in 1997 and improved a spot in the standings in each of the following years, finishing third in 1998, second in 1999 and first in 2000. With the Hawks, led by Sadaharu Oh, winning the PL pennant in 2000, the 2000 Nippon Series was dubbed the "ON Series".
2002 BBM Giants #G114
Nagashima's Giants defeated Oh's Hawks in six games for Nagashima's second championship as a manager. It was the fifteenth and final championship of his career. After a second place finish in 2001, he retired as Giants manager.
2001 Upper Deck #76
He didn't stay retired for long, however, as towards the end of 2002, he was named the manager of the Japanese National Baseball Team for the 2004 Olympics. He was the first former professional manager to lead the National Team as the previous teams had all been helmed by coaches from either colleges or corporate league teams.
The first hurdle for the team was to qualify for the 2004 Olympics and the team put together for the 2003 Asian Games was a juggernaut. They outscored their opponents 24-1 while sweeping China, Taiwan and South Korea to clinch a spot in the Athens games.
2003 BBM Japan National Team #01
Unfortunately, Nagashima would be unable to manage the team in Athens, as he suffered a stroke in March of 2004 which left his right side partially paralyzed. Head coach Kiyoshi Nakahata ended up taking over the team from him, leading them to a disappointing Bronze Medal finish.
2005 BBM Giants #G001
He was named "lifetime honorary director" of the Giants in the 00's and was awarded the "National Honor Award" with Hideki Matsui in a ceremony at Tokyo Dome on May 5th, 2013. He and Matsui also participated in a first pitch ceremony with Matsui pitching to Nagashima.
2013 BBM 2nd Version #690
2013 BBM 2nd Version #684
While he didn't get to manage the national team for the 2004 Olympics, he was a torch bearer for the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympics. He briefly held the torch with help from Matsui before passing the flame on to Oh:
I'm not positive, but I think his last public appearance was last May 5th for "Shigeo Nagashima Day" at Tokyo Dome which was part of the Giants' 90th Anniversary celebrations. There's an Epoch One card for the event that I don't have yet but I swiped the image from their website:
That's Hideki Matsui and Shinnosuke Abe behind him.
Speaking of baseball cards of Nagashima, he has a lot of them. I've included some above but I thought I'd share some more of my favorites:
1958 Yamakatsu JCM33a
1962 Doyusha JCM55
1962 JBR 64
1964 Marukami JCM 14g
1973 Calbee #1
1973/74 Calbee #148
1975 NST #56
2005 BBM Nostalgic Baseball #099
2014 Epoch Shigeo Nagashima National Treasures #19
2020 BBM Giants History 1934-2020 #15
Some comments about these cards:
Nagashima had a lot of cards issued for him in 1958 - TCDB lists 25 but doesn't have the one I show here. It's impossible to say which one was the first one issued so you have lots of good choices if you want a rookie card of him
RIP. To shed some more light on his popularity, he was basically in his prime during Japan's peak years when it was growing as a global powerhouse with its own industrial revolution. To that generation (the Japanese boomers basically) he was a symbol of the good times. Although I do have to note that I gather this is a bit through rose tinted glasses as when you look back, those times seemed pretty turbulent as constant upheaval everywhere leads to some chaotic moments. Still, he is associated with the "good old Showa" era and a lot of old men from that era were particularly bummed when he passed because the face of that whole era is gone. It's interesting because in comparison the likes of Ohtani, Matsui and Ichiro are great but unfortunately coming through in the post-90's recession that Japan's still reeling from today won't allow them to get the same cultural cache.
The stars definitely aligned for Nagashima. He was the guy for the times, for the moment. I don't think anyone will come close, including Ohtani. I don't think even Ohtani will become today was Nagashima was. He has a jovial personality but is also quite private and insular. He plays far away. He's so insanely good that he's like a god on Olympus. People are in awe of Ohtani and respect him, but they LOVED Nagashima.
Great insights, guys. I've always thought that there's an interesting sociological study that could be done on Mickey Mantle and Shigeo Nagashima and their place in their respective country's post-war generation's cultures.
To Nippon Baseball Retro, I agree. Ohtani's fantastic but the fact that he's doing his feats across the ocean (what's also kept Ichiro and Matsui from that God tier status too) diminishes his impact in Japan. Plus it was easier to root for Nagashima because he was rising along with the rest of the country. While Ohtani's respected for doing unprecedented things, it's a lot harder to appreciate when the average Japanese Joe can't even afford his merch.
For sure, I made this very comparison in my recent post where I translated the Calbee #1. Nagashima was much like Mantle in that he was five tool great who was not quite the greatest. His numbers have all been surpassed by others, but there was no bigger star.
That is a great write up. I kind of recognize that feeling, we've know for years now that he wouldn't be around forever but baseball without Nagashima seemed a bit too sad a thought to think about.
Great selection of his cards you used too. I'm still missing that 1973 Calbee #1 and its the only card from that first series that I still need.
It comes for all of us but with a lot of the great Showa Era players being in their 80's now, I fear I'll be writing more of these in the next few years.
Thanks for the compliment on the card selection. I had to refrain from using that Calbee with the great photo of him on the on deck circle while Oh batted at Korakuen because I wanted ones where you could see his face. I'm kind of surprised that you don't have 1973 Calbee #1 though.
13 comments:
RIP.
To shed some more light on his popularity, he was basically in his prime during Japan's peak years when it was growing as a global powerhouse with its own industrial revolution. To that generation (the Japanese boomers basically) he was a symbol of the good times. Although I do have to note that I gather this is a bit through rose tinted glasses as when you look back, those times seemed pretty turbulent as constant upheaval everywhere leads to some chaotic moments. Still, he is associated with the "good old Showa" era and a lot of old men from that era were particularly bummed when he passed because the face of that whole era is gone.
It's interesting because in comparison the likes of Ohtani, Matsui and Ichiro are great but unfortunately coming through in the post-90's recession that Japan's still reeling from today won't allow them to get the same cultural cache.
Great write up and cards. RIP Mr. Pro Yakyu
The stars definitely aligned for Nagashima. He was the guy for the times, for the moment. I don't think anyone will come close, including Ohtani. I don't think even Ohtani will become today was Nagashima was. He has a jovial personality but is also quite private and insular. He plays far away. He's so insanely good that he's like a god on Olympus. People are in awe of Ohtani and respect him, but they LOVED Nagashima.
Great insights, guys. I've always thought that there's an interesting sociological study that could be done on Mickey Mantle and Shigeo Nagashima and their place in their respective country's post-war generation's cultures.
To Nippon Baseball Retro, I agree. Ohtani's fantastic but the fact that he's doing his feats across the ocean (what's also kept Ichiro and Matsui from that God tier status too) diminishes his impact in Japan. Plus it was easier to root for Nagashima because he was rising along with the rest of the country. While Ohtani's respected for doing unprecedented things, it's a lot harder to appreciate when the average Japanese Joe can't even afford his merch.
For sure, I made this very comparison in my recent post where I translated the Calbee #1. Nagashima was much like Mantle in that he was five tool great who was not quite the greatest. His numbers have all been surpassed by others, but there was no bigger star.
Great tribute. I learned a lot about Nagashima today. Headed over to COMC to see if I can pick up some cards for my PC.
He played for the Sakura Daiichi High school, now called Sakura High School. I don’t think there was a Chiba Daiichi High School.
OK, thanks - I'll update the post
That is a great write up. I kind of recognize that feeling, we've know for years now that he wouldn't be around forever but baseball without Nagashima seemed a bit too sad a thought to think about.
Great selection of his cards you used too. I'm still missing that 1973 Calbee #1 and its the only card from that first series that I still need.
Excellent information and very touching tribute. Great job!
Scott
Thanks!
It comes for all of us but with a lot of the great Showa Era players being in their 80's now, I fear I'll be writing more of these in the next few years.
Thanks for the compliment on the card selection. I had to refrain from using that Calbee with the great photo of him on the on deck circle while Oh batted at Korakuen because I wanted ones where you could see his face. I'm kind of surprised that you don't have 1973 Calbee #1 though.
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