Sadaharu Oh
Japanese baseball player and manager (born 1940) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sadaharu Oh (Japanese: 王貞治, Ō Sadaharu; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (Chinese: 王貞治; pinyin: Wáng Zhēnzhì), is a Japanese-born Taiwanese former professional baseball player and manager who is currently the chairman of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Oh's playing career spanned across four decades, during which he only played with the Yomiuri Giants. He holds the world career home run record at 868, over 100 more than MLB record holder Barry Bonds.[1]
| Sadaharu Oh | |
|---|---|
 Sadaharu Oh in 2023 | |
| First baseman / Manager | |
| Born: (1940-05-20) May 20, 1940 (age 83) Sumida, Tokyo, Japan | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| NPB debut | |
| April 11, 1959, for the Yomiuri Giants | |
| Last appearance | |
| October 12, 1980, for the Yomiuri Giants | |
| NPB statistics | |
| Batting average | .301 |
| Hits | 2,786 |
| Home runs | 868 |
| Runs batted in | 2,170 |
| Stolen bases | 84 |
| Teams | |
| As player
As manager As executive
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
As player
As manager
As executive NPB/World records
| |
| Member of the Japanese | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1994 |
| Wang Chen-chih Sadaharu Ō | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hand print of Sadaharu Oh | |||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 王貞治 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 王贞治 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Japanese name | |||||||||||||
| Kanji | 王 貞治 | ||||||||||||
| Kana | おう さだはる | ||||||||||||
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Oh batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Originally signed with the powerhouse Giants in 1959 as a pitcher, Oh was soon converted to a full-time hitter. Under the tutelage of coach Hiroshi Arakawa, Oh developed his distinctive "flamingo" leg kick. It took Oh three years to blossom, but he went on to dominate the baseball league in Japan. He was a 15-time home run champion and was named to the All-Star team 18 times. More than just a power hitter, Oh was a five-time batting champion and won the Japanese Central League's batting triple crown twice. With Oh at first base, the Yomiuri Giants won 11 Japan Series championships. Oh was named the Central League's Most Valuable Player nine times.
In addition to the world career home run record, Oh set many other NPB batting records, including runs batted in (RBI) (2,170), slugging percentage (.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. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame 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.[2] He was the manager of the Japanese national team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, which defeated Cuba for the championship. He is currently the chairman of the Hawks.