Yomiuri Giants Legend Sadaharu Oh Proposes Project to Promote Baseball; Looks to Foster Successors to Ohtani

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, November 21, 2024

Sadaharu Oh, a legendary professional baseball player, has announced a project involving the entire baseball community, both professional and amateur, with such goals as increasing the number of baseball players and expanding the sport’s popularity.

Oh, 84, currently the chairman of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, made the announcement on Wednesday at a news conference in Tokyo.

The proposed “Beyond OH Project” will be designed in a way that creates an environment for training up global superstars in the mold of Oh and Shohei Ohtani of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, so that baseball will continue to be loved as the national sport for years to come.

Ahead of the news conference, Oh proposed a set of plans at a meeting of the owners of 12 professional baseball teams. The plan called for creating opportunities for children to experience baseball, spreading the appeal of the sport through social and other next-generation media and expanding both the domestic and international markets, as well as establishing the mechanisms and financial resources to achieve those goals. After winning the approval of those at the meeting, Oh announced the plans as a set of basic principles which look ahead to the next 100 years.

Since June, Oh has had discussions with about 60 representatives from more than 20 groups, including the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, 12 professional baseball teams, the Japan Student Baseball Association and other umbrella organizations for amateur baseball players, at meetings named Kyushinkai. Project members are expected to consider specific measures to promote future activities.

“I want baseball to be something children enjoy most,” Oh said. “We should stand up and start discussions for the future.”