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