Mourners Pay Respect to Nagashima in Funeral Service; Baseball Legends Celebrate Life of ‘Mr. Pro Baseball’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:57 JST, June 8, 2025

Mourners paid their respects to legendary baseball star Shigeo Nagashima during a funeral service in Tokyo on Sunday.

A total of 96 attendees, mainly former Yomiuri Giants players, attended the ceremony for Nagashima, the lifetime honorary manager of the Yomiuri Giants who passed away on June 3 at 89.

Nagashima’s second daughter Mina served as the chief mourner. Among the attendees were Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Chairman and former Giants slugger Sadaharu Oh and former Giants hurler and manager Tsuneo Horiuchi. The two were key players during the Giants’ so-called V9 period, when the team secured nine consecutive Central League and Japan Series titles from 1965 to 1973. Also in attendance were former Giants manager Tatsunori Hara; Kiyoshi Nakahata, who chairs the association of former Giants players; and former Giants slugger and major leaguer Hideki Matsui, who was Nagashima’s protege.

Canon Inc. Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai, who chairs a business leaders’ group that supports the Giants, was also there.

“I didn’t think the day would come so soon that I would deliver your eulogy,” Oh said in his eulogy for Nagashima. “Your very existence is something the Japanese can be proud of.” Oh and Nagashima were known as the O-N pair, the driving force of the V9 period.

“Skipper, we not having batting practice today? Looking into your eyes, I feel like you are going to tell me, ‘Get your bat, we start now,’” said Matsui, who maintained a mentor-protege bond with Nagashima even after he moved to the major league, in his eulogy for Nagashima. “I want to hear you say that again.”

The altar was decorated with orange flowers, the Giants’ color, which Nagashima loved. Among the items displayed on the altar were a uniform with his number 3, which was retired, the bat Nagashima used in 1959 to hit a walk-off home run during the game attended by the then Emperor and Empress, and a gold bat to commemorate his receiving the People’s Honor Award with Matsui in 2013.

Nagashima’s body left his home in Tokyo for the funeral home on Saturday afternoon. On its way, the hearse carrying Nagashima drove by Tokyo Dome, the home stadium of the Giants. On Saturday, 126 people attended a wake for Nagashima, including current Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe.

A game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers to pay tribute to Nagashima is scheduled for Aug. 16.