Sadaharu Oh Interview ESPN2

Interviewee: Sadaharu Oh (Baseball Legend - All Time HR King)
Interpreter: Patrick Bellew (Team Japan Media Liaison)
Interviewer: Orestes Destrade (ESPN Commentator)

• Category

  Sports

[Pacmanknapp24]

destrade played for the lions and really for some foreign players who either leave the majors or even starting out the effort and training is important my favorite player period tuffy rhodes was the closest person ever to break sadaharu home run record

[Ren Ng]

yakult swallows r u saying? ......the ball in japan is smaller, n smoother material on surface...so its hard for japanese pitches to get use the grip in the major..

[Pacmanknapp24]

Ha Ha whats funny Destrade had the strut attitude before he went to Japan lmao

Doing kung fu yes posture after crushing the ball, one thing I never understood some Nippon Stadiums are a lot shorter in the out field then U.S but foul ball line stretches out, also heard they use a wider ball, heavier ball confusing, Yes you should of said Seibu Lions, Being from the U.S i try to keep tabs on all the teams, hell even play the Video games for ps3 pro yakyuu spirits

[SoftBank47]

It's ok, I wasn't clear when I said Destrade was a HR threat. Didn't add the all important "with Seibu" words, lol.

[Pacmanknapp24]

You are right he was a threat, but like most Foreign players don't make it big in the Majors but able to pull threw in Japan I love Nippon Baseball maybe they notice more if a certain player has some abilities and works hard to conquer over the issues they had in the Majors. Reading about Nippon Baseball it's very serious training compared to College Baseball OTA's like crazy and way more practicing then the Majors, and Minor leagues i high respect that. Softbank my apologizes

[Pacmanknapp24]

He was a threat sad abotu Destrade's career in the Major league was bad luck, played for Yankees, Pirates, then went to Japan, finished with Seibu 1995, after being cut from the Florida Marlins

Seeing clips of Destrade he had that kind of edge where he expected homeruns emotion was just insane,

[SoftBank47]

I was referring to Destrade's days in Japan, Destrade led the Pacific League in home runs three straight years. That wasn't easy on those '80s Seibu Lions teams that had power threats like Kiyohara and Akiyama.

[Pacmanknapp24]

What do you mean he only hit 26 career homeruns

only two people have even a shot, well had was Cabera for Softbank Hawks who's now 41, past player Tuffy Rhodes

[filipinowhiteboy]

is that why he keeps foreign players from beating his records?

[Tnakamura11]

He should not call him as Wan chan. It's Sadaharu Oh's nickname among his teammates. Others are not allowed to use it even in Japan.