Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007

By JASON COSKREY

Staff writer

Sometimes the reality really is greater than the legend.

Sadaharu Oh, baseball's all-time home run leader, speaks at a meeting of the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan in Tokyo on Dec. 3. AP PHOTO

This past Monday, after accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan at an awards dinner in Tokyo, baseball legend Sadaharu Oh sat and passionately answered a number of questions from those in attendance.

With Oh on a tight schedule and the clock approaching 6 p.m., the impromptu Q&A session with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks manager needed to come to a close so he could catch his flight back to Fukuoka.

But before leaving, knowing full well that he had time constraints and had already signed autographs and posed for pictures earlier, Oh turned to the attendees and, unexpectedly without prompting, asked, "Does anyone need anymore photos?" and immediately took the time to pose for a number of pictures.

Such is the benevolence of the world's home run king.

Despite his other-worldly accomplishments and fame, the aforementioned situation is typical of Sadaharu Oh, a legendary figure that, whether he has the time or not, seems to go out of his way at times to please an adoring public.

That's the kind of thing that has made Oh, whose surname kanji character fittingly translates into "king" in Japanese, such a beloved figure long after his retirement as a player.

But make no mistake, the man who hit more professional home runs than anyone was a beloved player as well.

It's hard to imagine a discussion about all-time home runs without Oh's world-record 868 blasts coming into the picture somewhere. The mark has earned him worldwide fame and gives him 106 more home runs than Barry Bonds (762) who is MLB's all-time leader, 113 more than Hank Aaron (755) and 154 more than Babe Ruth (714).

Oh's generosity was on full display as he approached then-home run king Aaron's mark of 755 during his playing days. In a refreshing contrast to many of today's athletes, Oh took the time to sign autographs and interact with an army of fans and dealt with media tailing his every move.

He told of a time after surpassing Aaron that 200-300 kids showed up on his doorstep seeking autographs, to which he obliged.

In fact of all his achievements, passing Aaron is the one that stands out.

"I do have many memories," Oh said. "But I would have to say when I hit my 756th home run, breaking Hank Aaron's record (is my favorite). Not for myself personally, but for the people around me. People were so excited for me."

Much like Aaron, with whom he created the World Children's Baseball Fair to increase the popularity of the sport among the youth in 1988, was with Bonds in pursuit of his MLB record, Oh is very much at peace with the possibility of his record being broken some day.

"I think it will be broken," Oh said. "Right now I can't really say who will break my record. In Japan there is nobody close to my record so it will take some time."

Oh did, however, express confidence in the ability of Alex Rodriguez and Bonds to surpass him.

The 32-year-old Rodriguez, who has 518 homers to date, has already been widely tipped to break Bonds' mark someday.

"He's technically very good" Oh said. "He's fit and healthy and maybe one day he can reach 1,000 homers. I want him to have a high target."

Bonds poses the more immediate threat, although the American home run king is a free agent with an uncertain future.

"He may be advanced in age but he is quite physically fit," Oh said of the 43-year-old Bonds.

There are those that question Oh's power-hitting prowess since he did not play in the major leagues, a criticism he understands. Although in 13 exhibition series against Major League Baseball teams Oh hit 25 homers.

The world will never know what might have been since Oh never had the opportunity to play in the major leagues. Which is part of the reason he understands why so may Japanese players have begun to leave Japan to play in the United States.

"It's something we cannot stop," Oh said. "If I had a chance to play Major League Baseball, maybe I would want the chance. Young players have a chance. If players see their teammates having success, they will want to have a chance, too."

Oh credits the mass exodus to the various exhibitions that MLB players played in Japan against their Japanese counterparts.

"Even though they were goodwill games it was very good for the Japanese players and gave them a lot of motivation," Oh said. "That's why I appreciate the players that came over to show us their way of baseball.

"Whenever American players came to Japan, we had the impression that they could run fast and both outfielders and infielders had strong arms.

"Now Japanese players are going over to America and as I said earlier, when younger players see their teammates doing well, that is motivation for them."

The legend would have likely been an incredible source of motivation had he gotten the chance to play abroad.

He is most well-known around the globe for his home run-hitting prowess which captivated a nation and landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Aug. 15, 1977.

Oh credits his hard work under coach Hiroshi Arakawa as the foundation of his batting style and ability to hit home runs. Arakawa put Oh through a grueling regimen in which his pupil would practice swinging his bat for hours, before practice, before meetings and after practice.

"He would make me swing the bat 500-1,000 times a day," Oh said. "He told me you have to be able to control the bat like your chopsticks, like your knife and fork.

"I had to swing the bat until Mr. Arakawa was satisfied."

Yet even after all the exhaustive training and in the midst of a record-setting career, there were still players who were able to challenge Oh, arguably the best player in Japanese baseball history, on a consistent basis.

Among those there are two that stand out above the rest.

"No. 1 is Mr. Kaneda, who had 400 wins in his career," Oh said, referring to Japanese baseball's all-time wins leader Masaichi Kaneda. "He had a very good forkball and very good curveball.

"Another was Mr. (Yutaka) Enatsu. I don't know how many times I faced him, but I only had 20 home runs against him."

Oh made his name as a first baseman for the Yomiuri Giants during a long career (from 1959-1980) in which he was a member of 11 championship teams.

Teamed with third baseman Shigeo Nagashima, perhaps the only player in Japanese baseball history whose fame may surpass his own, Oh was one-half of the driving force behind the V-9 Giants, who won nine consecutive Japan Series titles from 1965-73.

But while Nagashima, who famously hit a game-winning home run during the only NPB game to be attended by Emperor Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Showa), was Japanese baseball's most popular player, Oh was its icon.

The mightiest of the mighty Kyojin, Oh won five batting titles, two Triple Crowns and led the Central League in home runs 15 times, which included a streak of 13 consecutive titles from 1962-74.

The streak was broken by Hanshin's Koichi Tabuchi, who hit 43 homers in 1975, before Oh won his final two titles in '76 and '77. He also led the CL in RBIs 13 times. He retired with a career average of .301 with 2,786 hits, 2,170 RBIs and 868 home runs.

He still shares Japanese baseball's single-season home run mark (55), which he set in 1964. Tuffy Rhodes (2001) and Alex Cabrera (2002) have since tied the record.

That mark, however, is not without controversy amid allegations that Rhodes and Cabrera were purposefully pitched around (by Oh's Hawks among others) as they neared the mark in a calculated effort to keep them from breaking the record.

"There is no doubt there are people who want to protect my record," Oh said. "But an instruction to do that would never come from me or anyone on my team."

Oh retired in 1980 and joined the Giants coaching staff in 1981. He took over as the team's manager in 1984 and led Yomiuri to the Central League pennant in 1987.

He was introduced as the manager of the Fukuoka Daiei (now Softbank) Hawks in 1995 and has led the team to three Pacific League Pennants ('99, 2000, 2003) and two Japan Series titles ('99, '03).

In 2006, he led the Japan national team to the title in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

A championship winning manager on both the domestic and international stage, Oh lamented the fact that baseball will be dropped from the Olympics following the 2008 Beijing Games.

"I think Major League Baseball should be more aggressive and take more action toward bringing baseball back to the Olympics," Oh said. "Without having Major League Baseball taking the initiative of bringing baseball back to the Olympics, it will not happen."

Aside from that Oh had nothing but praise for MLB, although he admitted there are a few MLB-induced influences he can do without in the Japanese game.

"They (Japanese players) like to wear their pants too long like American players where you can't even see their shoes," Oh said. "I don't like that. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but the old Cincinnati Reds uniforms would be nice. Also, the salaries are getting so high. Some top players may deserve a lot of money, but not everyone."

After such a long and decorated career, the recent news of his impending retirement has made waves in the Japanese media, which widely reported that Oh was set to retire after the 2008 season. However, Oh has since left the door open to managing beyond next season.

"I will be 68 next year," Oh said. "I had major stomach surgery (in 2006) and I feel weak sometimes. So I know I will retire sometime. But thinking that this is the last year, maybe that will be a motivation for the Hawks."

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