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Sadaharu Oh (Japanese: 王貞治, Ō Sadaharu; born May 20, 1940), also known as Wang Chen-chih (), is a Japanese-born Chinese 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 played for only the Yomiuri Giants. He holds the world career home run record at 868, over 100 more than MLB record holder Barry Bonds.Spatz, Lyle. Historical Dictionary of Baseball (Scarecrow Press, 2012), p. 169.
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 Nippon Professional Baseball. He was a 15-time home run champion and was named to the Central League All-Star team 18 times. More than just a power hitter, Oh was a five-time batting title and won the Japanese Central League's batting triple crown twice. With Oh at first base, the Yomiuri Giants won 11 Japan Series championships, including 9 in a row from to . Oh was named the Central League's Most Valuable Player nine times, including having the rare honor of winning Central League MVP while not on the team that won the season's pennant, which he did twice, in by virtue of breaking NPB's single season home run record with 55 home runs, a record that would stand until when Wladimir Balentien set a new record with 60 home runs that season, and , when he earned his second batting Triple Crown in a row. Oh and Balentien are the only Central League players to win Central League MVP while not on the pennant winning team the years that they won MVP.
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). 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.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ō Sadaharu" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 758. 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.
Oh was able to just make it through his fourth complete game in four days, squeaking out a one-run victory. Oh won the championship, though was not allowed to play in the Kokutai due to being Chinese.
In 1964, Oh hit 55 home runs, a single-season record he owned for 37 years until it was tied by Tuffy Rhodes in 2001. Oh surpassed 50 home runs in a season two other times, in 1973 and 1977.
Oh became friends with Hank Aaron, his contemporary in Major League Baseball. The two squared off in a home run derby before an exhibition game at Korakuen Stadium on 2 November 1974, after Aaron eclipsed Babe Ruth's home run record. By that time, Oh was running away with the Japanese home run record, having become the first Japanese baseball player to hit 600 career home runs that year. Aaron won, 10–9. Sadaharu Oh [Archive] – Baseball Fever
His hitting exploits benefited from the fact that for most of his career he batted third in the Giants' lineup, with another very dangerous hitter, Shigeo Nagashima, batting fourth; the two players forming the feared "O-N Cannon". In his autobiography, Sadaharu Oh: A Zen Way of Baseball (), Oh said he and Nagashima were not close, rarely spending time together off the field.
Sadaharu Oh retired in 1980 at age 40, having amassed 2,786 hits (third after Isao Harimoto (Jang Hoon) and Katsuya Nomura), 2,170 RBIs, a lifetime batting average of .301, and 868 home runs.
In 1995, he returned to baseball as the manager of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (later the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks). Oh led the Hawks to three Pacific League pennants in 1999, 2000 and 2003, and two Japan Series titles in 1999 and 2003.
In 2006, Oh managed the Japan national baseball team, winning the championship in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic over Cuba.
On July 5, 2006, Oh announced that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Hawks to combat a stomach tumor. The Seattle Times, "Briefs: Sadaharu Oh to have stomach surgery", July 6, 2006. On July 17, 2006, Oh underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove his stomach and its surrounding . The surgery was considered to be a success.Associated PRess, "Japanese Baseball Great Sadaharu Oh Has Operation for Stomach Cancer", RedOrbit, July 18, 2006. Although the tumor was confirmed to be cancerous, it was caught in early stages. He returned to coaching the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, although he announced he would retire at the end of the 2008 season as manager, stepping into a front office role for the Hawks, which he has held ever since.
In 1985, American Randy Bass, playing for the Hanshin Tigers, came into the last game of the season against the Oh-managed Giants with 54 home runs. Bass was intentionally walked four times on four straight pitches each time. Bass reached over the plate on the fifth occasion and batted the ball into the outfield for a single. After the game, Oh denied ordering his pitchers to walk Bass, but Keith Comstock, an American pitcher for the Giants, later stated that Giants coach and former Giant Tsuneo Horiuchi had threatened a fine of $1,000 for every strike that any Giants pitcher threw to Bass. The magazine Takarajima investigated the incident and reported that the Giants front office had likely ordered the team not to allow Bass an opportunity to tie or break Oh's record, likely because ace Suguru Egawa went against this and pitched strikes to Bass anyway. For the most part, the Japanese media remained silent on the incident, as did league commissioner Takeso Shimoda.Whiting, Robert, " Equaling Oh's HR record proved difficult", Japan Times, October 31, 2008, p. 12.
In 2001, American Tuffy Rhodes, playing for the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, hit 55 home runs with several games left. The Buffaloes played the Oh-managed Fukuoka Daiei Hawks on a late weekend series in Fukuoka. Rhodes was intentionally walked during each at-bat. Hawks catcher Kenji Johjima could be seen grinning as he caught the intentional balls. Again, Oh denied any involvement and Hawks pitching coach Yoshiharu Wakana stated that the pitchers acted on his orders, saying, "I just didn't want a gaijin to break Oh's record." Rhodes completed the season with 55 home runs. Hawks pitcher Keisaburo Tanoue went on record saying that he wanted to throw strikes to Rhodes and felt bad about the situation.Roah, Jeff, "Tokyo under the tracks: It's Never Too Late to Insert an Asterisk" , Tokyo Q, October 12, 2001.
In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season and his team played Oh's Hawks. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes to Cabrera, but most of them ignored his order and threw balls well away from the plate. This was also due to the fact Cabrera was walked by other teams in 2002, as he was likely on steroids after he was caught with Stanozolol pills prior to signing with the Lions and was eventually named on the Mitchell Report in 2007. After the game, Oh stated, "If you're going to break the record, you should do it by more than one. Do it by a lot." In the wake of the most recent incident involving Cabrera, ESPN listed Oh's single-season home run record on its list of "The Phoniest Records in Sports". Cabrera called the whole thing "racist".Coskrey, Jason. "Bass says Balentien won't get easy path to Oh's record", Japan Times (September 6, 2013).Merron, Jeff. "The Phoniest Records in Sports", ESPN (Feb. 25, 2004).
Wladimir Balentien, a Curaçaoan born player, broke Oh's single-season home run record on September 15, 2013, by hitting his 56th and 57th home runs of the season in a game against the Hanshin Tigers. Balentien ended that season with 60 home runs.
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