Sadaharu Oh the home run king of the world turns 77 today. Oh in his career in Japan which lasted 22 seasons- all with the Yomiuri Giants hit 868 home runs. Oh played from 1959-1980. He led the league in Japan at one time 13 years in a row in home runs, in a 16 year period he led the league 15 of the 16 years. He won 9 MVP Awards and his team won the Japanese Championship 11 times. His other career stats- a career .301 hitter with 2786 hits and 2170 RBI’s. His uniform # was #1. Would he have done that well in the American Major Leagues if he played at that time? Of course not but that isn’t to belittle his great accomplishments.  I do wonder how he would have done if he had played in America. He hit and threw left-handed and was famous for lifting his right foot up [as Mel Ott did with the New York Giants back in the day}- when striding into a pitch.

He would later become a manager in Japan and one of his highlights is he was the manager who led the Japanese National Team to the first World Baseball Classic Championship in 2006.