Rivals, Teammates Share Memories of Nagashima; Players Recall Funny, Exciting Experiences with the Late Baseball Legend
Shigeo Nagashima dives for the ball during a spring training camp in Miyazaki in 1969.
Rivals and junior teammates of Shigeo Nagashima experienced the baseball legend's performances and personality up close.
Famous catcher, slugger and manager Katsuya Nomura, who was in the same school grade as Nagashima and died in February 2020, once said of his hitting ability: 'He just reacted to the incoming pitch and hit it. He really was a genius.'
Nearly 20 Japan-MLB games each were held in some postseason periods in the 1960s, when the two stars were active as players. Nomura heard Nagashima say, 'I'll play in every game, because there are fans coming to see me.' Nomura recalled, 'I thought he was the pro of pros.'
Tsuneo Horiuchi, an ace pitcher in the V9 era, when the Giants won nine consecutive Central League tiles as well as the Japan Series titles from 1965 to 1973, started playing baseball because of his admiration for Nagashima.
Horiuchi said Nagashima's plays always surprised him, though Horiuchi himself was a highly gifted athlete. 'Many times, he was at bat with a runner on first, and the runner tried to steal second but got a slow start,' Horiuchi recalled. 'In an instant Nagashima would hit the ball to the right to save him, moving the runner to the third and himself to the first. He was often described as having animal intuition, but actually he just had incredible skills.'
Horiuchi also remembered something funny that once happened when they were playing together. Out of all the times when Nagashima was covering third base and Horiuchi was on the mound, Horiuchi only once made a pickoff throw to Nagashima.
Nagashima had stuck his left forefinger out of his glove, which the two had agreed would be the sign for Horiuchi to throw him a pickoff.
Horiuchi made the throw as agreed, but Nagashima was not on the third base and the ball went into the outfield as the runner made it safely to home plate. Nagashima looked confused and yelled at Horiuchi: 'Hey, Hori, what are you doing?'
Meanwhile, former Yomiuri skipper Tatsunori Hara, who was coached by Nagashima during his active career, expressed both sadness and gratitude.
'He was strict about winning but kind to other people, and he was loved by everybody,' Hara recalled. 'I admired him so much, and to me he was a symbol of the sport of baseball, a god-like figure.'
'In all of my roles — player, coach, manager — I drew more influence from him than from anyone else. Unfortunately, I just have to accept reality,' Hara lamented.
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