Giants Honor Late Legend Shigeo Nagashima; Matsui, Other Former Sluggers Gather for Ceremonial First Pitch

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:06 JST, August 16, 2025

The Yomiuri Giants’ game against the rival Hanshin Tigers at Tokyo Dome on Saturday was organized as a memorial game for late legendary superstar Shigeo Nagashima, with a lineup of former Giants stars taking part in an opening ceremony.

Nagashima, who was known as Mr. Giants, passed away in June at the age of 89.

Former slugger Hideki Matsui, a protege of Nagashima when he was manager of the Giants, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. At the plate were two other legendary sluggers on the Giants, with Sadaharu Oh in the left-handed batter’s box and Tatsunori Hara on the right side.

Behind the plate was current Giants manager and former catcher Shinnosuke Abe, while former outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi served as the umpire.

All five participants in the ceremony, as well as the Giants in the game against the Tigers, wore Nagashima’s uniform No. 3, which has been retired by the Giants.

All five also batted cleanup during their active careers, and all but Matsui went on to become manager of the Giants. Oh starred with Nagashima on the Giants’ dynasty teams of the 1960s an 70s, setting a world record with 868 career home runs.

“Today’s players have no experience of Mr. Nagashima as a player or manager,” Matsui said. “This is an opportunity for them to get a feel for just how big a presence he had, and I hope this inspires them to have good results.”