Shigeo Nagashima, a Yomiuri Giants legend who was so revered that he was known to many as “Mr. Pro Baseball” died on Tuesday morning due to pneumonia at the age of 89, according to an announcement by the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Long before the rise of Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro Suzuki, Nagashima, the Giants’ honorary lifetime manager, was arguably the most famous player in Japanese baseball history.
He was one of the top players for the Giants, the most popular team in Japan, and his fame was greatly boosted by the spread of television during his prime years. Nagashima’s talent on the baseball diamond and his good looks and charisma helped him become one of the most famous people in Japan during his playing days from 1958 to 1974.
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