Shigeo Nagashima

Shigeo Nagashima (長嶋 茂雄, Nagashima Shigeo, born February 20, 1936, in Sakura, Chiba, Japan) nicknamed "Mr. Giants" is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager.

Shigeo Nagashima
長嶋 茂雄
Nagashima in 2017
Third baseman
Born: (1936-02-20) February 20, 1936
Sakura, Chiba, Japan
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
NPB debut
April 5, 1958, for the Yomiuri Giants
Last appearance
October 14, 1974, for the Yomiuri Giants
NPB statistics
Batting average.305
Home runs444
Hits2,471
Runs batted in1,522
Win–loss record1,034–948
Winning %.522
Teams
As player

As manager

Career highlights and awards
Member of the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1988
The magazine Weekly Baseball issue on 16 April 1958 published on the cover by Mr. Nagashima (left) and Tatsuro Hirooka (right)

Biography

Nagashima played baseball at his local high school, and on the Rikkyo University baseball team from 1954–1957. He joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1958. His jersey number (3) is now a retired number for the Yomiuri Giants.[1]

After retiring, he became manager of the Yomiuri Giants from 1975–1980, and again from 1993–2001. He was scheduled to manage the Japanese national team for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but he suffered a stroke shortly before and was hospitalized. He recovered from his stroke, appearing at a baseball game in the Tokyo Dome in 2005, and in a television commercial in 2006, with his son, Kazushige.

Nagashima has four children. His eldest son, Kazushige Nagashima, is a former professional baseball player, and currently works as a sportscaster. Kazushige was not as successful as his father on the field, but he played on the Yomiuri Giants when his father was manager, and has since launched a successful career as an actor and TV personality. His eldest daughter works as a businesswoman, and his younger daughter was a newscaster for TV Asahi. His youngest son is a professional race-car driver. Kazushige had twin daughters in 2004, making Nagashima a grandfather. Shigeo lost his wife, Akiko, on September 18, 2007.

Amateur career

Nagashima was actually a fan of the Hanshin Tigers, the rival of the Yomiuri Giants, during his childhood. After graduating from his local high school in Chiba, he entered Rikkyo University, and became the team's regular third baseman. He won the batting title for two consecutive years in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, and was given the Best Nine Award five seasons in a row at third base. By his senior year, scouts from every professional team wanted to sign Nagashima, and the Nankai Hawks and Hiroshima Carp were particularly active in recruiting Nagashima. It was almost decided that he would sign with the Hawks, but he ended up joining the Yomiuri Giants in November, 1957. He signed with the Giants for 18,000,000 yen; the highest salary for a baseball player at the time.

Professional career

Newspaper article about Nagashima's debut, in which he struck out in all four of his at-bats against Masaichi Kaneda in 1958

Nagashima made his professional debut in April 1958, and struck out in all four of his at-bats against Masaichi Kaneda (coincidentally, Sadaharu Oh also struck out in all of his at-bats in his debut game against Kaneda). Regardless, Nagashima became the team's clean-up hitter by mid-season, and the Giants won the league championship. Nagashima led the league in HRs (29) and RBIs (92), and was awarded the rookie of the year award. He would have hit .300 with over 30 home runs and 30 steals in his rookie year, but he had one home run scratched off his record because he forgot to step on first base while rounding the bases after hitting a home run.[2]

Nagashima played perhaps his most well-known game on June 25, 1959, when the Japanese emperor attended a baseball game for the first time. Nagashima hit the game-winning home run off Minoru Murayama, and rookie Sadaharu Oh also had a home run in the game.

The Yomiuri Giants cleanup consisting of Sadaharu Oh batting third, and Nagashima batting fourth, were nicknamed the ON Hou (translated to: Oh-Nagashima Cannon) as Nagashima continued his hitting prowess, and Oh emerged as the best hitter in the league. The Giants won the league championship nine years in a row from 1965–1973, and Oh and Nagashima dominated the batting titles during this period. Nagashima won the season MVP award five times, and the Best Nine Award every single year of his career (a total 17 times).

Nagashima won only two Golden Glove awards, because the title was established in Japan late during his career, in 1972. Nagashima was a flashy fielder, making extravagant leaps and dashes to field even the most routine ground ball. Giants fans were delighted by Nagashima's fielding, even when he made careless errors.

After winning his sixth batting title in 1971, Nagashima suddenly fell into a hitting slump. The team attempted to revive him by giving him more at-bats, but Nagashima no longer had the success he had shown during his younger years. The team wanted Nagashima to take over as manager after Tetsuharu Kawakami, who had led the team for 14 years, and Nagashima doubled as a player and a coach in his final seasons. In 1974, the Chunichi Dragons won the league championship, breaking the nine-year streak held by the Giants, and Nagashima played his final game on October 14 against the Dragons, grounding out to short for a double-play in his final at-bat. The game was followed by an elaborate retirement ceremony.

Managerial career

Nagashima's appointment as manager of the Yomiuri Giants was announced almost immediately after his retirement. Nagashima was given control of the team in November 1974, and he immediately rid the Giants of the tactical, small ball style left by his predecessor Tetsuharu Kawakami, relying instead on superior hitting and pitching to carry the team. He also recruited third baseman Davey Johnson from the majors, who became the first ever non-Japanese player to play for the Giants. The changes did not turn out well in the 1975 season, as the Giants ended the season in last place for the first time in the team's history. However, the Giants recruited star players during the off-seasons, while Nagashima made further changes (including converting a lifelong outfielder to third base) and the Giants quickly re-assumed their dominant position in the Central League, winning league championships in 1976 and 1977.

The Giants lost the pennant to the Yakult Swallows in 1978, and on October 1, former Giants manager Shigeru Mizuhara made an appearance on TV Asahi's news program, criticizing Nagashima's handling of the team. In the off-season of the same year, Nagashima and the Giants were involved in a huge controversy concerning the drafting of pitcher Suguru Egawa. The Giants ended in fifth place in 1979, and Nagashima's head coach was fired mid-season in yet another controversy. Criticism towards Nagashima greatly increased, and the team's owners decided to fire Nagashima during the 1980 season. Nagashima's immense popularity made it difficult for fans to stomach the firing, and some fans even attempted to boycott the Yomiuri newspaper in protest.

The Giants won five league championships and two championship series after Nagashima's departure, but many people felt that the sport's popularity in Japan was fading away, and called for Nagashima to be reinstated to revive Japanese baseball. Several teams sought Nagashima to become their manager, but he either refused or ignored their calls. Nagashima returned to the Yomiuri Giants in 1992, when Tsuneo Watanabe became the new owner of the team (Watanabe had a long-lasting affiliation with Nagashima). In the 1992 draft, he won the lottery to sign Hideki Matsui, who would become the new star of the Giants during Nagashima's second run as manager.

Nagashima's Giants won the Central League Pennant in 1994, 1996 and 2000, winning the Japan Series in 1994 and 2000, and he managed the team until 2001. For the 2000 Japan Series, Nagashima was managing against his former teammate, Sadaharu Oh, who was the manager for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. The press called it the O-N Series. In 2002, it was announced that he would lead the Japanese Olympic baseball team. The team (consisting entirely of players from the Japanese professional leagues) beat China, Taiwan, and Korea to win the Asia tournament in November 2003, but Nagashima suffered a stroke in March 2004, and was unable to travel to the Athens Olympics. The team ended up with a bronze medal in the Olympics after losing to Australia.

He was awarded People's Honour Award on May 5, 2013, for his achievement. And more coincidentally, Hideki Matsui who he had picked in draft was also awarded at the same time.

In 2021, he received the Order of Culture for the first time as a former professional baseball player.[3]

Post-career

Nagashima was one of the torchbearers in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[4]

On September 7, 2022, Nagashima was hospitalized after suffering a brain hemorrhage.[5]

As result for player era

Results of player era by season
League
Club Year G BB BN RUN Hit 2BH 3BH HR TB RBI SB SBH Sbp SF WAL IBB DB SO DP BA OBP SLG OPS
Yomiuri Giants 1958 130 550 502 89 153 34 8 29 290 92 37 10 1 6 36 15 5 53 3 .305 .353 .578 .931
1959 124 526 449 88 150 32 6 27 275 82 21 6 0 3 70 17 4 40 9 .334 .426 .612 1.038
1960 126 524 452 71 151 222 12 16 245 64 31 12 0 2 70 32 0 28 8 .334 .422 .542 .964
1961 130 543 448 84 158 32 9 28 292 86 14 11 1 5 88 35 1 34 14 .353 .456 .652 1.108
1962 134 584 525 69 151 38 5 25 274 80 18 7 0 3 51 7 5 61 14 .288 .354 .522 .876
1963 134 577 478 99 163 28 6 37 314 112 16 3 0 10 86 18 3 30 14 .341 .437 .657 1.094
1964 133 566 459 81 144 19 6 31 268 90 13 2 0 6 96 15 5 34 8 .314 .433 .584 1.017
1965 131 560 503 70 151 23 5 17 235 801 2 6 0 5 50 12 2 42 16 .300 .363 .467 .830
1966 128 543 474 83 163 31 3 26 278 105 14 7 0 8 58 14 3 39 17 .344 .413 .586 .999
1967 122 515 474 65 134 25 3 19 222 77 2 3 0 3 37 4 1 37 24 .283 .334 .468 .802
1968 131 569 494 80 157 21 4 39 303 125 8 3 1 5 66 12 3 74 19 .318 .398 .613 1.011
1969 126 546 502 71 156 23 2 32 279 115 1 1 0 4 38 1 24 58 15 .311 .359 .556 .915
1970 127 525 476 56 128 22 2 22 220 105 1 2 0 9 40 1 0 52 15 .269 .320 .462 .782
1971 130 547 485 84 155 21 2 34 282 86 4 3 01 1 59 8 2 45 20 .320 .395 .581 .976
1972 125 520 448 64 119 17 0 27 217 92 3 2 0 8 63 11 1 34 23 .266 .352 .484 .836
1973 127 530 483 60 130 14 0 20 204 76 3 2 1 8 37 3 1 35 20 .269 .318 .422 .740
1974 128 476 442 56 108 16 1 15 171 55 2 1 1 4 24 0 5 33 18 .244 .288 .387 .675
Career total 2186 9201 8094 1270 2471 418 74 444 4369 1522 190 81 5 90 969 205 43 729 257 .305 .379 .540 .919

Sourse:Nippon Professional Baseball

As result for team manager era

Results of league competitions by season
League
Club Year Pos Game W D L WA GD HR BA ERA
Tokyo Giants 1975 6th 130 47 76 7 .382 27.0 117 .236 3.53
1976 1st 130 76 45 9 .628 (2.0) 167 .280 3.58
1977 1st 130 80 46 4 .635 (15.0) 181 .280 3.48
1978 2nd 130 65 49 16 .570 3.0 136 .270 3.61
1979 5th 130 58 62 10 .483 10.5 154 .259 3.85
1980 2nd 130 61 60 9 .504 14.0 153 .243 2.95
1993 3rd 131 64 66 1 .492 16.0 105 .238 3.22
1994 1st 130 70 60 0 .538 (1.0) 122 .258 2.41
1995 3rd 131 72 58 1 .554 10.0 139 .2526 3.40
1996 1st 130 77 53 0 .592 (5.0) 147 .253 3.47
1997 4th 135 63 72 0 .467 20.0 150 .251 3.69
1998 3rd 135 73 62 0 .541 6.0 148 .267 3.74
1999 2nd 135 75 60 0 .556 6.0 182 .265 3.84
2000 1st 135 78 57 0 .578 (8.0) 203 .263 3.34
2001 2nd 140 75 63 2 .543 3.0 196 .271 4.45
Career total 1982 1034 889 59 .538

Sourse:Nippon Professional Baseball

See also

Notes

  1. Hiragana Times, "'Mr. Baseball' – The Legendary Uniform #3", Volume #294, April 2011, pp. 26–29.
  2. Hiragana Times, "'Mr. Baseball' – The Legendary Uniform #3", Volume #294, April 2011, pp. 26–29.
  3. "長嶋茂雄さんら9人文化勲章 功労者に加山雄三さんら". Jiji.com. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  4. "The Latest: Osaka lights cauldron at Tokyo opening ceremony". WTOP. Associated Press. 2021-07-23. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
  5. "Shigeo Nagashima Hospitalized After a Brain Hemorrhage". japan-forward.com. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
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