Everyone loved Shigeo Nagashima.
During the Showa years, kids gathering to play sandlot ball would vie for the honor of wearing the "Number 3" jersey just like him. Even many fathers who prided themselves on being "Giants haters," did not let that stop them from enjoying Shigeo Nagashima's play.
It was a phenomenon you could experience in public squares and living rooms across Japan. Nagashima's way of playing baseball symbolized an era when Japan was recovering from the war and moving towards becoming an economic superpower. It was a buoyant era when people were confident of a bright future.
2025 marks an even century since the start of the Showa era and 80 years since the end of the Pacific War. Nagashima, who passed away on June 3 at the age of 89, was a giant of the game and an unrivaled superstar who seemed to embody the Showa and postwar eras.
In the Emperor's Presence
Perhaps the best-known moment in his lengthy career was the walk-off home run he hit against his worthy rival Minoru Murayama in a game attended by the Emperor Showa in 1959. Professional baseball fans went wild over his competitive spirit as well as his spectacular swings and misses that would send his helmet flying. He always lived up to expectations in crucial situations like those.
Nagashima teamed up with his teammate and buddy Sadaharu Oh to blast "O-N (Oh-Nagashima) Cannon Shots." But he also thrilled the crowds with his deft defensive performance at third base, where he would routinely leap for a fiercely hit ball and then wave his right hand as if striking a pose after throwing the ball to first base for the out. Nagashima would wear a large helmet that could fly easily. And his movements after throwing the ball were straight out of kabuki theater. He was clearly out to entertain the fans.
Beloved 'Mister'
With O-N taking the lead, Japanese professional baseball grew in popularity to the point that it became the national pastime. And Nagashima came to be called "Mr Giants." With time, that became "Mister Pro Baseball," and eventually he was known affectionately to all Japanese simply as "Mister."
His boundless cheerfulness and consistently positive attitude were the true source of his popularity.
Nagashima was also loved for his many famous words of wisdom, such as "Failure is the mother of success." Asked how he deals with the psychological pressure before an important game, he replied, "I enjoy the pressure."
When young, he made light of the famous line by author Kenji Miyazawa meant to embody the will to endure, "Unbowed by the rain, unbowed by the wind." He dismissed it as "boring."
And instead his sayonara message for his junior high school graduation message board was:
Rejoice in the rain, enjoy the wind.
His thoroughly positive personality appears to have remained unchanged since his childhood.
Thriving along with Japan's High Growth Era
When the war ended in the summer of 1945, Nagashima was nine years old. Tokyo and other major Japanese cities had been turned into burned-out ruins. But the speed of recovery that followed astonished the world and speaks volumes about the industriousness of the Japanese people.
In 1956, the government's White Paper on the Economy declared that "We are no longer in the postwar period." At that very time, Nagashima was a star player as third baseman at Rikkyo University, a member of the Big Six league of elite Tokyo universities. Two years later, he made his debut with the Yomiuri Giants. And in his very first year as a pro player, he won the Central League home run and RBI titles.
In 1960, the Hayato Ikeda Cabinet launched its "Income Doubling Plan." And 1965 marked the start of the "Izanagi Boom." It was also the year in which the Giants won the first of nine consecutive Japan Series titles.
The color television joined automobiles and air conditioners to form the "new three sacred treasures." It was a staple in the living room of every household. And in the evenings, fathers would monopolize the choice of channels to catch live night games in which the Giants played.
That was the scene in Japan during the Showa era, and Nagashima could always be found center stage.
Rare Recognition
In 2021 Nagashima was awarded the Order of Culture. He was only the second athlete to receive this honor, following the swimmer Hironoshin Furuhashi, nicknamed the "Flying Fish of Fujiyama" [Mount Fuji] by the sports world. Furuhashi set 33 world records during his career in the immediate postwar years.
Just as Furuhashi symbolized the postwar reconstruction era, Nagashima symbolized the high economic growth era.
Raising Rising Stars to Inherit His Mantle
In 2004, while getting ready for the Athens Olympics as the manager of the Japanese national baseball team, Nagashima suffered a cerebral infarction (stroke) and was hospitalized. He subsequently became disabled. Nevertheless, he continued to appear in public, displaying to all his efforts at rigorous rehabilitation.
Nagashima forced himself to live in such a way that others would see him. His conduct serves as inspiration for others who have suffered the same disability to live courageously. That no doubt is why he acted as he did.
In 2013, the Japanese government bestowed the National Honor Award (People's Honor Award) upon Nagashima and Hideki Matsui in a joint ceremony at Tokyo Dome. Nagashima had mentored Matsui and Matsui considered himself Nagashima's disciple.
When asked upon his retirement what scene from his career came immediately to mind, Matsui answered, "Batting practice with Manager Nagashima."
The two men, mentor and disciple, kept in close touch even after Matsui left to play ball in the United States. Back in Japan, Nagashima continued to listen to the whistling sound of Matsui's bat swing over his cellphone, which he placed on the floor of his home or hotel room.
At the People's Honor Award ceremony, the pair rode side by side in an open car. And since Nagashima was waving his left hand while hiding his disabled right hand, Matsui also continued to wave only with his left hand.
Later Matsui explained, "I wanted to draw attention to the manager's vigor." Obviously, another of Nagashima's great achievements was his nurturing of kind-hearted successors.
Inspiring a Tapestry of Stars
Across the wide Pacific, Shohei Otani paid tribute to Nagashima before the start of a Los Angles Dodgers game. Then in the game, he proceeded to hit a huge home run.
Looks like we are rapidly gaining a symbol for the Reiwa era. This is how the tapestry of stars transcending eras is woven.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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