Sadaharu Oh homerun record

[sijotakane]

Oh of KIROKU ( record)

Nagashima of KIOKU (memory)

[noclouds111]

I can't remember seeing his swing before this video. He does have a great stroke.

[TheSpinalzap]

@noclouds111 Like John Olerud, perhaps?

[tomitstube]

i saw him play, he was an awesome player. amazing strength. i think all those milestone homers were pulled. i don't remember if he hit a lot to the opposite field, i don't think he did.

[TheSpinalzap]

@tomitstube Yeah, dead pull hitter. Nothing wrong with that. If he played in MLB, his home park would have a short right porch.

[tomitstube]

@TheSpinalzap ~ you're right, i have since seen documentaries where teams would stack the infield and outfield to his pull side.

i saw oh play against american teams when they would tour japan. the orioles and cardinals after world series wins. american pitchers had a lot of success against oh by throwing inside around his high knee. it really tied him up, of course american pitchers could over power the smaller japanese.

[nurjihadsaputra]

awesome



[ericssson]

couldn't play in the minor in the states

good in Japan but that's about it

[JapanHokkaidoBoy]

@ericssson I'm Japanese and totally agree. MATSUI (gozilla) is the true Japan's hr king because he hit the modern heavy mlb ball most of his career and a REAL Japanese samurai, not this chink who is from some shitty island that isn't even independent

[TheSpinalzap]

@JapanHokkaidoBoy Do not like Chinese, huh?

[Joeygee23]

He is a PUNK!!! The Japanes League a sad joke for his single season "record."

In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season and his team played Oh's Hawks. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes to Cabrera, but most of them ignored his order and threw balls well away from the plate. After the game, Oh stated, "If you're going to break the record, you should do it by more than one. Do it by a lot

[fhfs]

how do u hit 800 home run so basically he beat bonds to 756 by 15 yrs he must his career 47 -55 home runs a season thats monster!!!

[mauownage]

Those pitchers who got pwned by Oh, I felt their pain.

[GrayLeader2184]

I'm just glad that with his home run record, I don't have to say Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader.

[rocketman2442]

to make it 3 min 16 sec short, he homered 868

[maxscameraguy]

I belive the dates are incorrect. But good film.

[spcooper94]

If anyone is trying to get rid of a Sadaharu Oh card email me at spcooper1616@ol.com. ebay is too expensive.

[tomitstube]

i saw him play. against japanese teams, and against the '68 cardinals and the '71 orioles. he was truly a great player, but to be honest when the world series teams came over to play they would dominate the japanese league back then. they would play japanese all stars and win handily. i'll never forget because american pitchers would consistently throw at oh's knee, he had that classic high knee kick. i saw pat dobson throw a no hitter against oh's giants.

[NPRMc]

Most every American ballplayer (Seaver, Drysdale, Rose) that ever played against him in the year end Japanese tour say Oh would have had a great and highly productive career in the American majors. I respect players opinions more than so called pundits or worse...blind nationalists. Put him in the Hall....and Gil Hodges!

[LCDragonrats]

September 3, 1977 will live in infamy when Sadaharu smashed that 756th Home Run in Tokyo! I will always remember that to the day I die!

[reivenlocke]

Oh's records are a joke and the Japan League are in on the conspiracy to keep his records out of foreign hands. Randy Bass, Alex Cabrera, and Tuffy Rhodes can attest to this. His single season HR record became shit the second pitchers were instructed to walk Bass and were threatened with dismissal if they threw a strike.

[Finito2k]

Oh's HR record is only could only be accomplished playing ball in Japan, where finesse is favored. MLB on the other hand relies on power and physical skills. Oh would never come close to hitting 400 HR's in the US. Seriously, pitchers like Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson would have had him for lunch.

I will say this. I respect his record a great deal more than that of Barry Bonds.

[Deiradinn]

@Finito2k Barry Bonds cheated, how can you even have him in that discussion?

[Finito2k]

@Deiradinn I know what you mean. Sadly, I have no choice but to acknowledge the record, since Major League Baseball doesn't seem to mind cheating.

[PATMAN24isITACHI]

omg hes better than ruth aaron and bonds and its weird how this guy and bonds are home run record holders and they are both from a team called the GIANTS!

[112593dj]

this is the most bullshit record ever. on 3 occasions, when foreign players who were playing in the japanese league came close to Oh's record of 55 HRs in a season, the pitchers would just intentionally walk them so they can't break the record. the most fucked up part is, that the general office and the administration of the teams who were pitching against the hitters ordered the pitchers to do so.

[JoustGod]

Great hitter. Some of the worst camera work I've seen for this era. In the debate over the numbers Oh put up versus others, let's not forget that using an altered bat was commonplace and legal in the Japanese leagues during Oh's time. That includes Oh's usage of an altered bat. The record is incredible, but what if US hitters had the same equipment. Oh is incredibly egotistical, also. His handling of the situation where an American hitter threatened his single-season record is a bit cowardly.

[TheStevekid]

unfortunately the negro leagues never kept statistics, let alone a regular set schedule. so not only did josh gibson play upwards of 200 games a year, (many of which were barnstorming games and not against top level opponents) but sadaharu oh played in a 130 game season. also, since the negro leagues did not keep records, we will never know how many homeruns josh gibson hit. and reading some of the stories that come from the negro leagues, its safe to assume gibson's totals have been exaggerated

[Lennon4life1968]

His numbers deserve respect. If you came here only to diminish him then you should just move on.

[isnmx2]

Josh Gibson doesn´t have register...

[HennyHenn209]

naw josh gibson had way more add all the hr that wasnt counted for gibson was the greatest

[FrankAndDaveOutdoors]

@HennyHenn209

add all the homeruns that werent counted for Sadaharu.

[SuperDroogie187]

Sadaharu Oh belongs in Cooperstown! He's the REAL home run king!

[kpugs7]

@SuperDroogie187 Incorrect. The real home run king is Josh Gibson. Look him up and know your ignorance.

[SuperDroogie187]

Josh Gibson = "almost 800" (says so on his HoF plaque)

Sadaharu Oh = 868

You FAIL! Sadaharu Oh STILL has more home runs than Josh Gibson!

[huggybobo88]

josh gibson, sadaharu oh, babe ruth, hank aaron, ken griffy jr, and albert pujols are he greatest home run hitters of all time! but really sudaharu is the best

[EricAnno]

Not even close buddy.

Sorry.

[Saladin01]

It's a shame the guy's single season homerun record is such a farce. He's a genuinely good player too.

[slashhendrix333]

found a interesting fact. Mr.Oh & Chien-Ming Wang of Yanks share the last name in Chinese (Japanese' Oh pronounced as Wang in Chinese). Seems like Taiwan does produce some good baseball players and export them shine in the Big and JPL. then how come this country never made a big name of themsalves on recent international games??

[juliusmitsui]

That's because there was simply no option for them when Mr. Oh was playing. It only happened when Hideo Nomo of Dodgers retired from JPL and came to the US after that the flood gate started to open. FYI, S. Anderson called Mr. Oh is king and Mr. Oh has hit homers off J Koosman, T. SeaverS. Carltonand J.almer when they visited Japan off season and no one can copy the one leg standing form the most diffiuclt thing to do in the world. S Anderson showed Mr. Oh 2 intentional walks.

[carlinrulez666]

The Yomiuri Giants are my favorite Japanese baseball team.

[carlinrulez666]

Sadaharu Oh is one of my favorite baseball players.

[Tails137]

I had forgotten what a sweet swing Oh had.

[WadEpsilon]

Professional baseballs of Japan of his playing days were 130 games.

The number of games of the Major league was 162.

[mrstratego]

Josh Gibson has the real home run record with over 900. He stopped play at the age of 35 i think, and was WAYYYY better than any pro play of his time.

[switchhitter07]

He died at the age of 35 from a cerebral hemmorrage. sadly, it was just before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. True he might have only been able to get four or five seasons under his belt, but if he lived who knows what havoc Gibson could have wreaked in the majors.

[spruce213]

Dude, you know nothing. Josh Gibson compiled his stats off of triple A pitchers, barn burning games, and pitchers in the Mexican league. Plus those Negro League records aren't accurate. Get your facts straight.

[carlinrulez666]

Gibson may have had over 900 home runs, but some of his 900 home runs, were against semi-professional opposition as well.

[BigStick3456]

SHUT THE FUCK UP! What does your slime pilitics have to do with Oh? Keep politics out of baseball. With that said, Oh should be in the MLB Hall of Fame.

[appleinchen]

你是被蝌蚪青蛙操出來的吧

[norfillyson]

hank araon wuz better.. but this guyz okay i guess. i wunder what the quality of pitching was in japan.. anyone know?

[Dimaggio369]

The pitching quality in Japan is such that Karl Rhodes, a career minor leaguer in America that couldn't hit anywhere near 50 homeruns in the American minor leagues could hit as many homers in a Japanese season as oh then Oh is not in the same level as the great homerun hitters in America.

[irvin564]

it was good, but he could've hit more a loooooooooot more homers, cause the pitchers always walked him on 4 pitches

[Chirpjen]

I highly recommend the book Sadaharu Ho. It will give you a perspective about Japanese baseball that most Americans have no idea about. Good book!

[negtype13]

meatballs

[zephryfunky]

OH my God!!!!!

[Islanderfan5]

Asterisk or not Barry Bonds isn't the true home run king, he needs 106 more home runs! Oh was a great and durable player, but i still regret to this day that he didn't play at Yankee Stadium. Imagine seeing all those home runs past the short porch in right field!

[carlinrulez666]

The Yankees don't need Bonds.

[juliusmitsui]

ur right imagine how much Ichiro and matsui accomplished so far and Mr. Oh can do much better not that Matsui and Ichiro aren't great but Mr. Oh is a homrun hitter. Too bad the rule and policies and polictics chanaged too late. Mr. Oh is a very gracious man he never tuened down sign an autograph unlike some of the arrogant not good major leaguers as soon as they sign a big contract they get injuries right away shame on them

[lanuiiohu]

Taiwan & Japan

[cannonballkid]

Homerun King

[doggyred789]

lol who tell hell cares the fences in japen are 250 feet away all he did was hit pop flys

that why hank arron rape his ass in a home run derby

[tankardfan]

He is/was an amzazing player. If anyone gets a chance to read his autobiography, it is really great. It really goes in depth to how he developed his swing, with sword training and constant practice. A truly incredible player.

[obbor4]

I read that one, too. It had a really cool series of pages that you could flip through and see his swing in action. Great footage here! I'm just glad that Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, Dice-K and others have brought these wonderful skills to the U.S. Such a shame that we missed out out on seeing Mr. Oh. Our loss was Japan's gain.

[jpcfit]

@tankardfan I read the book, and he devotes three chapters to how he and Hiroshi Arakawa developed and refined his batting style. Up to then, Oh's production had been so-so, and management was becoming frustrated with their young talent. The unique stance was a sort of surrender, kind of like, "What the hell; we've tried everything else." Great stuff

[ericssson]

@tankardfan those dudes where so so small

[manhattanc]

This man is a hero of mine in every way. Him and Roberto Clemente.

[avalsonline]

question: it is rude for japanese players to hit too many homeruns because they do not want to show up their teammates. how did sadrahu oh get away with it?

[AndrewSch]

Born In china, but made in Japan!

[flhren]

he was borned in japan with chinese father n japanese mother. n never quite related himself to main land china, eventhough he visited republic of china a few times. n people in taiwan back then loved him as a national hero.

[commify]

Yeah, that's why Randy Bass was holding his bat upside down.

[switchhitter07]

I still consider Hank Aaron my personal home run king, but dang it, 868 homers is incredible. Oh is a world baseball legend for sure. The Babe Ruth of Japan.

[rockerduff1231]

wait wait are you guys comparing this guy to american ball players? its generally agreed that in japan the players' stats are inflated because of different measurements and distances, and worse pitchers. look at Ichiros stats

[avalsonline]

lets see... 200 hits every year sinse he came to us. single season it record. never hit bellow 300. one of the better fielders of the game...yah, there goes the inflated stats theory

[Dannyc1235]

@avalsonline Randy Bass batted .389 in Japan. Randy Bass.

[commify]

Maybe not the best power hitter of all time, but like Aaron he had the endurance to go on playing forever. I think Babe Ruth could have hit more home runs if he hadn't spent all those years pitching and drinking.

Cool video too, kinda spine-tingling.

[voncushing]

Oh was more than likely the best player of all time. We didnt get to see much of him here because "We are americans, and we are the only ones that do it right!!No Jap is better than our ballplayers" Whatever. The parks might seem a little short but back in Oh's days there mounds were 3.5 feet closer than our distance, which equals faster pitches and more movement/velocity. Which really means this dudes bat speed must have been uber quick. Thanks for posting this

[avalsonline]

probably could have hit at least 500homers in US, and still more extra base hits

[crabs17]

thank you redmustang for telling us how one breaks a record: "For Bonds to break his record he has to get 868." yeah, no shit. oh and roygbig, thanks for the math. this is quite an intellectual discussion.

[ZoddGuts]

Is it just me or did the stadiums seems rather... short.

[ibanezvirtuoso]

you can see during homerun #714 that the fence at center says 123 meters, which is 403 feet.

theres a video clip of joe dimaggio being robbed of a homerun during a world series, and the fence at left field has a 415ft sign.

pre-1960's ballparks had their fences for the most part farther away.

[flhren]

it doesnt matter, because then everyone played on the same field. oh's bat was not lighter, bigger, when he hit, the fence would not lower, the field would not smaller. his spirit means a true sportsmanship. he affected the league changed rules of baseball, n opponent's manager fielded 4 outfielders for trying to stop him.

[roygbiv330]

if you hit 50 homeruns every year, it takes 17 years to reach 850.

[Buffalo3Stu]

Wow, the most underrated player in all the game.

[bballaman92]

nice..

[BxL121]

the fact that oh managed the champion japanese team in 2006 doesnt mean anything. some of the players in the mlb played for their native born teams so the U.S. lost a whole lot of their players like pujols, beltran, and johan santana . also, some of the USA players decided not to play like morneau, hoffman, and Mariano Rivera so the fact that japan won is actually meaningless

[slashhendrix333]

sorry dude, our asses got kicked on WCS again. and guess what, jap won 2 consecutive champ of this series. i dont think we have any excuses for having not being able to win this time. it feels suck.

[djshortsleeve]

Alex Rodriguez will smash even this record of 868.  I see AROD cracking 900 ot be the greatest slugger of all time.

[slashhendrix333]

A-Rod to be one of the greatest sluggers of all time? do u still think so after seeing the press where he admitting the shit he's done? i dont think so. shame on him. but still....LETS GO YANKS!

[ShineOnYouCD]

if you eliminate those years, he's still gonna be a hall of famer

[redmustang03]

This guy is the true freaking home run king, no steroids, no human growth hormone. This guy is and still is a legend with the Yomiuri Giants Giants. This guy won 11 Japanese World Series, as a player won Series as a manager and the 2006 World Baseball Classic. For Bonds to break his record he has to get 868.

[jhnsn101]

Actually, Oh started out as a pitcher and was moved to 1st base when he joined a team in Japan, so he may not have hit any homers in the U.S. Maybe after a few years in Japan he could have come over here and done some damage, but who knows? Also, Japanese players are loosely rated as AAA players, or top minor leaguers, so it's not like he was facing super low quality players. Few Japanese players that come over here do any worse than above average.

[ryanpierie]

868 home runs is one hell of an accompishment no doubt but japanese fences are shorter and the pitches are not as wicked as a major leaguer. this guy would probly be a 500 home run guy in the big leagues.

[thomaswhago]

haha. most professional baseball fields in japanese have the exact same dimensions. 330ft in the corners and 400 ft to center field. i wouldn't exactly call that any easier than here in the majors.

[BxL121]

Barry Bonds is on steroids so that automatically makes Sadaharu Oh better than bonds. But stil...Oh definately wouldnt have gotten so many HRs if he was in the MLB. MLB pitchers throw harder and they're just better. Japanese pitchers aren't that good in most cases

[thomaswhago]

pshh. screw you. first of all, bonds isn't proven guilty, which means he's innocent for now. second of all, espn did a thing on bonds without steroids and they came up with the conclusion that if you took off the additional strength on each of bonds' homer, he would still have more hr's than willie mays.

[videoviewer224]

this guy hit many HRs cus those japanese pitchers threw weaker pitches than MLB players do now so thats da only reason he has many HRS

[thomaswhago]

i don't see any other japanese players hitting 868 of them. and i certainly don't see you even hitting one. think before you criticize a baseball legend. as far as we know, he managed the japanese team that kicked everyone's ass in 2006.

[videoviewer224]

shut up u fucking idiot did i say i even play baseball u dumb fuck

[Winsane]

after having a heart attack in 2005.

[DaPantz]

You're an idiot.

[videoviewer224]

ur a homo ok shut the fuck up bum ass

[tubulus3]

Hahahahahahaha! Is that Gloria being played at the end?!

[kckid2599]

Suck it, Bonds, you can't touch Oh.

[louthebody]

Still the world record holder in homeruns.

[ZhangtheGreat]

Thank you for uploading this footage. I've always wanted to see Oh in action, as he is the true Home Run King of the world.

[SgtPppr9751]

actaully blunder that isnt true. many of the stadiums in Japan are actual stadiums( meaning the outfield is rounded) so there are no short porches, they are still about the same distance. ya aaron and ruth were better but this guy was consistant.

[blunderbuss]

whats funny is that ppl think that this guy is the greatest baseball player of all time.what people dont realize is that the stadiums in japan were MUCH shorter than MLB stadiums,also a majority of japan were minor leaque quality players conpared 2 the US. Babe and aaron were better

[carlosFIDEL]

Sadaharu Oh el verdadero jonrronero en la historia del beisbol hank aaron y barry bonds son buenos pero sadaharu oh el mejor de los mejores

[adhdkid14]

thanks for showing me this now i can tease my friend (hesa bonds fan) the real king of swing is sasharu oh

[Luke5116]

Bonds may break Aarons record, but he will never break Sadaharu Oh's record. Oh is the real king of swing.

[DR270]

the worlds best homerun hitter

[kenihana]

that was awesome! I wanted my son to see this legendary hitter from Japan. Thanks.

[kungfoofighter66]

wasn't he the first player to hit a home run in front of the emperor?

[gzeuskraiste]

Thankyou for posting this historic footage