| TOKYO, Jun. 4 – “Mr. Professional Baseball” Shigeo Nagashima, who had made outstanding achievements in the baseball world in Japan, died at the age of 89 on June 3. Hirofumi Kono, a 63-year-old onion grower in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, was a member of the Yomiuri Giants when the baseball legend was serving as the team manager for the second time from 1993 to 2001. Nagashima called Kono Gen-chan, the nickname Kono still uses for his business name.Gen-chan’s unforgettable scene with Nagashima is a victory in the Central League Pennant in 1996: the Giants once fell 11.5 points behind the top team in the league and the Giants made a significant reversal under Nagashima’s slogan, “Make Drama,” with Kono did outstanding jobs to win the title of the best relief pitcher.Kono and Nagashima remained in touch after Kono left the team. “I regularly sent onions to him, and sometimes he kindly bought more,” Kono said. The two met last time at an event to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the team.
“I was too nervous to talk to him, but he would just casually call me ‘Gen-chan’ and talk to me,” Kono recalled. “He also supported us in agriculture, and I am very thankful to him.” Receiving the sad news of his departure, people in the agricultural sector across the country were deeply saddened. “It’s very sad to lose such an important figure in the baseball world. All of us in my generation started playing baseball to go after Nagashima,” Hisami Shimazaki, 77, from Gojome Town, Akita Prefecture, said. He led the Akita Prefectural Kanaashi Agricultural High School team to a total of seven appearances at the Koshien National High School Baseball Championships in spring and summer. “Nagashima makes games so exciting and fun, but that’s possible only by those with solid fundamental skills,” Shimazaki said of Nagashima’s play style. “I had my students do thorough training so that they could gain such skills, following what Nagashima did. It was all thanks to Nagashima that our team played well against strong opponents in Koshien,” he continued. “I couldn’t help but let out a cry of surprise, hearing the news,” Masayuki Hamada, an 80-year-old farmer in Mashiki Machi, Kumamoto Prefecture, said. “I saw him at a baseball field, and he was a real hero. His words after his retirement game, ‘(My Giants is) forever immortal’ are unforgettable to me,” he sadly said. Hamada once had a ball hit by then-junior-high-school-player Munetaka Murakami, currently playing with Tokyo Yakult Swallows, landing in the wall of his agricultural shed. “I hope Murakami will also become a hero like Nagashima and lead Japan’s baseball world,” he said. |
Nagashima (left) and Kono, nicknamed Gen-chan (photo by Gen-chan)