Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh, also known as Wang Chen-chih, is a retired Japanese–Chinese baseball player and manager who played 22 seasons for the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseballfrom 1959 to 1980. Oh holds the world lifetime home run record, having hit 868 home runs during his professional career. He established many NPB batting records, including runs batted in, slugging percentage, bases on balls, and on-base plus slugging. In 1977, Sadaharu Oh became the first recipient of the People's Honor award. He...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth20 May 1940
CountryJapan
I was really surprised the American team lost to the Mexican team.
I was really surprised that the American team lost to the Mexican team, because we thought somehow the Americans would be the world's best. And because of that notion, when we lost the second game in the second round, we never thought that we would be able to be playing in the next round here.
We have a saying in Japanese that 'the third time will reveal the truth' and since we've lost twice to South Korea and both were games that we lost by one run and gave up two runs in the eighth inning, we would love the opportunity to meet them again and win.
We really respect the fact that they fought their heart out and tried to show their best game ever. We lost both games (to Japan), but those were very close games, and I believe either team could have won either game.
I never coached a team for a tournament like this, and never thought the pressure to be so high. Baseball is the best sport. Everyone has to work together. There is nothing more wonderful than that Japanese players did such a wonderful job and showed that to everyone in the world.
I was 99 percent sure that our chances to advance to the semi-finals were finished.
Again, it was the same right fielder who made that catch at Tokyo Dome. It changed a situation from one where we could have scored to one in which we did not. It has been indicative of the way momentum has flowed in this tournament.
I'm 100 percent sure. I spoke to him recently and told him we really want him to be a part of our team.
I have no intention of resigning. I wouldn't mind dying at a ballpark. I would like to aim high for the team next year.
It will be a very tough competition. The level of play will be very high and there will be teams that want to beat us, so we knew we had to go with a strong team.
This was for all of the fans back home in Japan.
We gave everything we had. We learned that our opponents' desire was higher than ours.
To be honest, I haven't felt this thrilled in a long time.
This first World Baseball Classic is a great success and it showed a lot of positives to the baseball world, but I don't really know how the Olympic committee would perceive this success.