The owner of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp professional baseball team Kohei Matsuda died of stomach cancer at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo on Wednesday. He was 80.
Matsuda, who lived in Hiroshima, was also formerly the president of Toyo Kogyo, the company that developed the first rotary engine or motor vehicles and is known today as Mazda Motor Corp.
As the head of Toyo Kogyo, Matsuda was also the team president of the Hiroshima Carp of the Central League.
With Matsuda as team president, the Carp won their first league pennant in 1975. Hiroshima has since won six Central League pennants, the last in 1991, and three Japan Series championships in 1979, 1980 and 1984.
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