Japanese home-run king Sadaharu Oh left the hospital Wednesday after successful stomach cancer surgery last month, saying that he felt reborn and hoped to return to baseball as soon as possible.
Sadaharu Oh
KYODO PHOTOThe 66-year-old Japanese baseball legend and manager of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks underwent stomach removal surgery on July 17 after a cancerous tumor had been found in tests.
"I feel as if I had come back alive onto the Earth," Oh told a nationally televised news conference, smiling. "It is my pleasure to live with baseball, so I have to recover as quickly as possible so that I can share the joy of victory, or the sting of defeat, with the team and the players again."
Despite his initial hopes to return to the team's home ground in Fukuoka in about two weeks, Oh said he needs a little more time to regain strength.
"I plan to concentrate on recuperation at least until the end of August, and I hope to be in Fukuoka when the Hawks are ready to end the season as league leader."
Oh said he only realizes the absence of his stomach when he eats, mainly because he gets frustrated by not being able to eat as much as he used to. Oh said he has lost about 9 kg since his hospitalization began.
"A big eater, I love eating. But I've been given only soupy rice porridge, which is rather frustrating," Oh said. "I watched many TV cooking shows in my hospital room, thinking I'm going to be able to eat those dishes again."