Sadaharu Oh

Sadaharu Oh (born May 20, 1940), professional baseball player

- Sadaharu Oh -

Sadaharu Oh was born in Tokyo, Japan. The son of a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, he would become one of Japan's most revered sports heroes. In 1959 he signed a contract to play with the Yomiuri Giants. It took the young first baseman a few years to blossom but he would go on to dominate baseball in Japan for the next twenty years.

He lead his league in home runs 15 times, 13 of which were consecutive, and drove in the most runs in 13 seasons. More than just a power hitter, he also won the batting title five times. Twice in his career Sadaharu Oh won the batting triple crown and led his team to eleven championships. Oh was named his league's Most Valuable Player 9 times, and voted to the All Star team eighteen times.

In 1980, Sadaharu Oh retired at age 40 having a record of 2,786 hits, 868 home runs, 2,170 runs batted in and a .301 lifetime batting average out of 9,250 at bats in 2,831 games. His 868 career home runs surpassed America's Hank Aaron, making him professional baseball's all-time home run king.

Following his retirement, Oh was hired to manage his Giants team in 1984. He was manager until 1988 when he and the also retired Hank Aaron teamed up on a campaign to increase the popularity of baseball by working with youngsters.

In 1994 Sadaharu Oh was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. The following year he returned to baseball as the manager of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.