3 days ago
Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89
Shigeo Nagashima, a Yomiuri Giants legend who was so revered that he was known to many as 'Mr. Pro Baseball' died on Wednesday due to pneumonia at the age of 89, according to an announcement by the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Long before the rise of Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro Suzuki, Nagashima was arguably the most famous player in Japanese baseball history.
He was one of the top players for the Giants, the most popular team in Japan, and his fame was greatly boosted by the spread of television during his prime years. Nagashima's talent on the baseball diamond and his good looks and charisma helped him become one of the most famous people in Japan during his playing days from 1958 to 1974.
Nagashima was all over newspapers, appeared on TV shows and commercials and his visage adorned billboards. His overwhelming popularity helped lift pro baseball into its place as the top sport in the nation.
