Fukuoka Softbank Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh broke into the Japanese major leagues with the Yomiuri Tokyo Giants in 1959 and retired as a player in 1980 after hitting 868 home runs. The kanji for his last name is truly fitting: it means “king”, and he is known throughout the world as a king among players. Oh went on to manage the Giants, and he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1994. That same year, Rikuo Nemoto, the Hawks’ manager at the time, proposed that Oh be his successor. I’ve heard that Oh struggled with the decision to live in Fukuoka as the team’s manager – he was a Tokyo native, and he was of course closely associated with the Giants. Oh was tapped for the job in 1995 as a result of Nemoto’s bold decision. For years, the Hawks and their Nankai predecessors in Osaka had been a second-rate team. When they came to Fukuoka, the fans would sometimes jeer, deriding them for amateurish play and throwing raw eggs on the field. But Oh held firm, saying, “I won’t quit. Winning is the only thing, and if you win, the fans will be happy.” Three years after Oh took the job, in 1998, the Hawks finished in third place – the first time that happened in 21 years. The next year, the Daiei Hawks won their first Pacific League championship 11 years after they moved to Fukuoka, and became the champions of Japanese baseball to boot. They repeated as Pacific League Champions in 2000, and but lost the Japan Series against the Giants, skippered by Oh’s former teammate Shigeo Nagashima. The Hawks took the Pacific League crown again in 2003, and they began to be viewed as perennial winners.
The citizens of Fukuoka were very proud when Sadaharu Oh managed the Japanese team in the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and were crowned the champions of the world. Then, on September 23, 2008, Oh announced he would step down as manager at the end of the season. For the generation that was born after the golden age of the Nishitetsu Lions, the Hawks represent baseball in Fukuoka. Even after Softbank assumed ownership in 2005, they were still the Hawks for Fukuoka fans. The team had become part of their lives, as the fans rode a roller coaster of emotions with victory and defeat. They celebrated by having a few drinks after they won, and drowned their sorrows after they lost. We discovered through the Hawks how important a professional sports team can be for a region. The person responsible for all that is, without question, Sadaharu Oh. When he was still in good health, many people in the city met him at Japanese-style pubs or Chinese restaurants. He was always open and friendly with the fans who cheered him and the team on. So, rather than the Oh of the world, he became a local hero in Fukuoka / Hakata. During a press conference, he said that Fukuoka was a comfortable place to live. I really hope that he stays in Fukuoka and keeps an eye out for his old team.
