Shigeo Nagashima

thumb|right|200px|The magazine Weekly Baseball issue on April 16, 1958, featured Nagashima (left) and [[Tatsuro Hirooka (right) on the cover]]

was a Japanese professional baseball player and manager. Nagashima first began playing baseball in elementary school, before playing at his high school in Chiba Prefecture, part of Kanto Region, just before he played as a third baseman for Rikkyo University. After winning the batting title for two straight years in Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, Nagashima made his professional debut in 1958 with the Yomiuri Giants. In his rookie season, he led the Central League in home runs and runs batted in, with 29 and 92 respectively and ultimately received Rookie of the Year honors. With the arrival of Sadaharu Oh in 1959, the two would both become a dual force in being the best hitters in the game that earned the nickname "O-N Cannon" for one of the most dominant dynasties in NPB history, and Nagashima won league MVP five times while being named to the Best Nine Award in every season he played; his four Japan Series MVP award wins is still the most in NPB history. After retiring in 1974, he became as a manager of the Giants from 1975 to 1980, and again from 1993 to 2001; during this time, he won the Japan Series twice.

His nicknames includes "Mr. Pro Baseball", "Mr. Giants", and "Hot Man" of Japan. Nagashima is regarded as a beloved national figure of postwar Japan, on par with Hibari Misora and Yujiro Ishihara.

Early life and amateur career

Nagashima was born on February 20, 1936, in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, Empire of Japan (Now Japan), Nagashima also played baseball at his local high school in Chiba Prefecture, and on Rikkyo University baseball team in 1955–1957 as a third baseman. During this period, he also won the batting title for two consecutive years in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, in 1956 and 1957 respectively, and was given the Best Nine Award five seasons in a row at third base. However, he instead signed with the Giants in 1958 for 18,000,000 yen, the highest salary for a baseball player at the time. Regardless, Nagashima became the team's clean-up hitter by mid-season, and the Giants won the league championship. Nagashima led the league in home runs (29) and runs batted in (92), and was subsequently awarded the rookie of the year award. Regardless, he had a batting average of .305 and also stole 37 bases. Nagashima scored two home runs in the series. Nagashima hit the game-winning home run off Minoru Murayama, and rookie Sadaharu Oh also had a home run in the game. The Yomiuri Giants cleanup consisting of Oh batting third, and Nagashima batting fourth, were nicknamed the "ON Hou" (translated to: "Oh-Nagashima Cannon") as Nagashima continued his hitting prowess, and Oh emerged as the best hitter in the league. The Giants won the league championship nine years in a row from 1965 to 1973, and Oh and Nagashima dominated the batting titles during this period. Nagashima won the season MVP award five times, and the Best Nine Award every single year of his career (a total 17 times). As a result of his dominant performances with the Giants, he was nicknamed "Mr. Pro Baseball" of Japan and "Mr. Giants". The team wanted Nagashima to take over as manager after Tetsuharu Kawakami, who had led the team for 14 years, and Nagashima doubled as a player and a coach in his final seasons. In 1974, the Chunichi Dragons won the league championship, breaking the nine-year streak held by the Giants, and Nagashima played his final game on October 14 against the Dragons, grounding out to short for a double-play in his last at-bat. The game was followed by an elaborate retirement ceremony.

Managerial career

Nagashima's appointment as manager of the Yomiuri Giants was announced on November 21, 1974, one month after his retirement, and was given control of the team in the same month. He recruited third baseman Davey Johnson from the majors, who became the first ever non-Japanese player to play for the Giants. However, the Giants ended the season in last place for the first time in the team's history. Despite this, Nagashima made further changes and the Giants quickly re-assumed their dominant position in the Central League, winning league championships in 1976 and 1977. and in the off-season of the same year, Nagashima and the Giants were involved in a huge controversy concerning the drafting of pitcher Suguru Egawa. The Giants ended in fifth place in 1979 with a 58–62 record. Criticism towards Nagashima increased, the team's owners decided to fire Nagashima during the 1980 season. Nagashima's immense popularity caused controversy among the fans after his firing, and the Yomiuri Shimbun experienced a significant decrease in publications after Nagashima's firing, with some people angered at its "misreporting" of the situation.

Nagashima returned to Yomiuri Giants for 1993 season, when Tsuneo Watanabe became a new owner of team in 1996 (Watanabe had a long-lasting affiliation with Nagashima). In the 1992 draft, he won the lottery to sign Hideki Matsui, who would become the new star of the Giants during Nagashima's second run as manager. The Giants won the Central League Pennant in 1994, 1996, and 2000, winning the Japan Series in 1994 and 2000, and he managed the team until 2001. For the 2000 Japan Series, Nagashima was managing against his former teammate, Sadaharu Oh, who was the manager for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.

In 2002, it was announced that he would lead Japanese Olympic baseball team. The team (consisting entirely of players from the Japanese professional leagues) beat China, Taiwan, and Korea to win the Asia tournament in November 2003, but Nagashima suffered a stroke in March 2004, and was unable to travel to the Athens Olympics. The team ended up with a bronze medal in the Olympics after losing to Australia.

Personal life

thumb|right|200px|Shigeo Nagashima and [[:ja:長嶋亜希子|Akiko Nishimura at the engagement press conference (November 26, 1964).]]

In October 1964, Nagashima covered 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games as a special reporter for Hochi Shimbun newspaper alongside Sadaharu Oh, and while speaking with female companions, he met his then-girlfriend, Akiko Nishimura. They announced that the couple were engagement on November 26 of the same year. Two months later, they officially married on January 26, 1965. They couple have two sons and two daughters: His eldest son, Kazushige Nagashima, was a former Japanese professional baseball player, and later, he currently works as a sportscaster. He also played for Yomiuri Giants when his father was a manager, and later became as an actor and TV personality.

His wife, Akiko Nagashima died of heart failure on September 18, 2007, at the age of 64.

Recognition

His jersey number (3) is now a retired number for Yomiuri Giants.

On May 5, 2013, Nagashima was awarded the People's Honour Award, alongside Hideki Matsui whom he had picked in 1992 draft. In 2021, he received the Order of Culture for the first time as a former professional baseball player. In July 2021 during COVID-19 pandemic, Nagashima was one of torchbearers at 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

In 2025, NPB, in tandem with the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nippon Television Network, established the Shigeo Nagashima Award starting in 2026 that would honor a player each season "who excels in the three fundamentals of baserunning, hitting and fielding, and who captivates fans each season."

Health problems and death

On September 7, 2022, Nagashima was hospitalized after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He died from pneumonia in Tokyo, on June 3, 2025, at the age of 89. He received a private funeral held in Tokyo on June 7.

Career statistics

Player

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!colspan="25"|League

!Club

!Year

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!SF

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|rowspan="18"|Yomiuri Giants

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!colspan="1"|Career total

| colspan="25" style="text-align: center;" | Source: Baseball-Reference

Managerial record

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;font-size:86%;"

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!Pos

!Game

!WA

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!HR

!BA

!ERA

|rowspan="15"|Yomiuri Giants

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| bgcolor="silver"|

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!colspan="3"|Career total

| colspan="12" style="text-align: center;" | Source: Baseball-Reference