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
We heard that TV ratings for our games surpassed 30 percent and 40 percent in Japan and we also got warm fan support in the United States. I feel very happy that we responded to such enthusiastic support with this title.
That was the mindset of the entire team. We kept pushing hard and our players played with all their might.
I think the batter was too good for Ishii. It was the eighth inning and the batter came up with a big home run. If I knew he was going to do that, I wouldn't have (put Ishii into the game).
I don't know about the politics, but since it's named the World Baseball Classic, I would like to see the Cuban team there.
He hadn't been in top condition lately, but he was really swinging very good in practice. I had confidence I could use him any time. I didn't have any doubt.
I was disappointed but it's up to him to decide. It was not a surprise that he refused since he had been hesitating for such a long time.
I was really surprised the American team lost to the Mexican team.
In the future, I hope to have this Classic as the football World Cup, something many more countries can join.
I thought I would never, never get a chance to manage a team like this.
I had confidence I could use him. I didn't have any doubt.
I was 99 percent sure that our chances to advance to the semi-finals were finished.
I am proud that Japan is the strongest team in Asia. We are determined to go through at the top.
Again, it was the same right fielder who made that catch at Tokyo Dome. It changed a situation from one where we could have scored to one in which we did not. It has been indicative of the way momentum has flowed in this tournament.
We gave everything we had. We learned that our opponents' desire was higher than ours.