Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh, also known as Wang Chen-chih, is a retired Japanese–Chinese baseball player and manager who played 22 seasons for the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseballfrom 1959 to 1980. Oh holds the world lifetime home run record, having hit 868 home runs during his professional career. He established many NPB batting records, including runs batted in, slugging percentage, bases on balls, and on-base plus slugging. In 1977, Sadaharu Oh became the first recipient of the People's Honor award. He...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth20 May 1940
CountryJapan
I never coached a team for a tournament like this, and never thought the pressure to be so high. Baseball is the best sport. Everyone has to work together. There is nothing more wonderful than that Japanese players did such a wonderful job and showed that to everyone in the world.
If we can win, there won't be any problem, we'll be happy with that. What happened happened. It's already in the past. It's done. So it's over. So what we're looking at is in the future.
This first World Baseball Classic is a great success and it showed a lot of positives to the baseball world, but I don't really know how the Olympic committee would perceive this success.
It's just unimaginable that this could have happened, or this did happen, in the U.S. where baseball is very famous and popular. And it's a pity that it was overruled.
Before speaking about whether to turn it down or not, I don't think I've got an official offer.
My players showed me a fantastic performance tonight. I know they're doing it for Japan.
I'm 100 percent sure. I spoke to him recently and told him we really want him to be a part of our team.
Personally, I think Japan is the strongest team in Asia and we want to finish Pool A as the top team in the group.
I have no intention of resigning. I wouldn't mind dying at a ballpark. I would like to aim high for the team next year.
Our games were very close games. I believe either team could have won either game. We would like to show our best performance this time.
Since Korea won two games, we felt we had to win tonight's game. And Tamura's three-run home run in the first inning took off the pressure.
This was for all of the fans back home in Japan.
We have to win all three games. So I will make sure they stay focused on (Sunday's) game.
Wada didn't really have a lot of control tonight. But that doesn't change my overall trust in him.