Shigeo Nagashima, who played third base for the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball and was half of a tandem of fearsome power hitters with the legendary Sadaharu Oh, died Tuesday at age 89 from pneumonia.
A native of Sakura, Chiba, Japan, Nagashima grew up a fan of the Hanshin Tigers, the archrival of the team with whom he had a Hall of Fame career as a player and managed to two Japan Series titles. He became an instant star with the Giants, Japan’s favorite team, and became a celebrity totem of the rebuilding nation whose company was sought out by stars and politicians, so much so that his 1965 wedding was nationally televised across Japan.
Batting behind Sadaharu Oh, the pair of Oh and Nagashima were nicknamed “the O-N Cannon” and terrorized pitching across Japan’s Central League from 1959 to 1974 as the heart of a Giants organization that won nine consecutive Japan Series from 1965-73. Nagashima played 2,186 games with a .305 career batting average and 2,471 hits,444 home runs, and 1,522 RBIs, winning the Central League MVP five times.
After signing with the Giants in 1957, Nagashima led the league in homers and finished second in batting average and stolen bases in 1958, which earned him Rookie of the Year honors. In 1959, he and Oh both homered in the first game ever attended by Emperor Hirohito and his wife, Nagako, with Nagashima’s shot coming in the bottom of the ninth to win the game for the Giants, an iconic moment in Japanese baseball.
Known for his work ethic, Nagashima was nicknamed “Mr. Giants,” “Mr. Baseball,” or simply “Mister” by fans and the press. He was sought out by Major League Baseball teams, including the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that now has Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani on its roster, though he never was able to play in MLB. Ohtani posted condolences and photos of himself and Nagashima on Instagram Tuesday.
After retiring as a player, Nagashima took over as manager in 1974, shifting the team’s strategic focus from small ball to power hitting and outstanding pitching, though it was not without difficulty. The team finished last in the Central League his first season as skipper before twice winning the Central League title but losing the Japan Series. After six seasons, he was let go as manager without having won Japanese baseball’s biggest prize.
But he then returned as manager in 1993, having the good fortune of leading a team with Hideki Matsui, the most feared hitter in Nippon Professional Baseball in the 1990s, and won Japan series titles in 1994 and 2000. In all, he won 11 Japan Series championships as a player and two more as a manager, all with the Giants.
He also managed Samurai Japan and was pegged to lead the team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, but a stroke left him partially paralyzed and unable to continue as manager.
Nearly a decade later, he was honored by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the People’s Honor Award.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Nagashima, Oh, and Matsui were bearers of the Olympic torch, with Oh carrying the torch and Matsui, who followed in the footsteps of the O-N Cannon, supporting Nagashima.
Photo: Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, center, chats with former Yomiuri Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima, left, prior to Game Three of the Japan Series at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 23. 2001. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
