Shigeo Nagashima, Yomiuri Giants
manager, welcomes Hideki Matsui after he hit a home run in a game on
Sept. 1, 2000. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Looking into the history of Japanese professional baseball, I found that female announcers who call the names of players on the public address systems at ballparks appeared for the first time on April 3, 1947. Soon, with the start of television broadcasts, viewers at home were also able to hear their voices. "Fourth batter, third baseman, Nagashima." To this day, no voice echoes through the minds of older baseball fans better than the one announcing the name of baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima, a former Yomiuri Giants slugger.
When Nagashima retired in 1974, the then-author of this column wrote: "He is a happy man who is loved by everyone. Children adore him … So do young and middle-aged women. But men love him even more than the women." There are many anti-Giants baseball fans, but the player who wore No. 3 on his back was missed by everyone.
Now, 39 years later, he will be given a National Honor Award along with Hideki Matsui, who played for the Yomiuri Giants while Nagashima was manager. The pair will be receiving the awards as "master and pupil," and the way they expressed their joy in media reports shows how the pupil admires his master and the master cherishes his pupil.
After leaving the Giants, Matsui played for a number of major league teams. While I was working in the United States, I often heard from a fellow reporter covering sports about what a good guy Matsui was. He described the way Matsui put his team before himself with the comment: "He is a player who plays for the name printed on the front of his uniform rather than the one on the back." His sincere attitude also won the hearts of many major league fans.
I hear that some people are questioning why now and why these two. At the same time, there are others who were surprised that Nagashima had yet to receive the award. The retirement of the teacher's favorite pupil and protege served as a golden opportunity for the awards, which seem to exemplify the saying: People cannot live by themselves.
People who receive the awards may be great, but that doesn't mean those who don't are no good. Why not discuss the topic from various angles and enjoy ourselves? While those who give the award may have a political agenda, let us not be affected by it.
--The Asahi Shimbun, April 3
Nagashima, Matsui to get top honor
by Reiji Yoshida
Staff Writer
Former Yomiuri Giants sluggers Shigeo Nagashima, 77, and Hideki
Matsui, 38, will get the People’s Honor Award, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga said Monday.
Their selection, however, apparently highlighted the opaque way the recipients are chosen: The award is often seen as a political tool to boost the government’s popularity.
Nagashima was a legendary Giants batter who later managed the team, owned by one of the nation’s biggest media conglomerates. Matsui, nicknamed “Godzilla,” went on to play for the New York Yankees after his popular career with the Giants.
He recently announced his intention to retire.
Suga faced a number of questions from reporters over why the two were selected for the award at the same time.
They asked why the two men from the same team — long the most popular club — were chosen, and not other top players on other teams or athletes from other sports.
Suga said Nagashima was picked as he is “an undisputed national hero” and Matsui due to his great achievements as well as the pair’s “mentor-disciple relationship.”
The award, to be given by the prime minister, is designed to honor a national hero or heroine who “is widely loved by the people” and “made remarkable achievements that gave bright hope to society.”
In 2011, the national female soccer team received the award.
Their selection, however, apparently highlighted the opaque way the recipients are chosen: The award is often seen as a political tool to boost the government’s popularity.
Nagashima was a legendary Giants batter who later managed the team, owned by one of the nation’s biggest media conglomerates. Matsui, nicknamed “Godzilla,” went on to play for the New York Yankees after his popular career with the Giants.
He recently announced his intention to retire.
Suga faced a number of questions from reporters over why the two were selected for the award at the same time.
They asked why the two men from the same team — long the most popular club — were chosen, and not other top players on other teams or athletes from other sports.
Suga said Nagashima was picked as he is “an undisputed national hero” and Matsui due to his great achievements as well as the pair’s “mentor-disciple relationship.”
The award, to be given by the prime minister, is designed to honor a national hero or heroine who “is widely loved by the people” and “made remarkable achievements that gave bright hope to society.”
In 2011, the national female soccer team received the award.
Photos
Click to enlarge
沒有留言:
張貼留言