It's a new world for Japanese home-run king Sadaharu Oh

TOKYO — More than any other name in Japan's long baseball history, Sadaharu Oh's is perhaps the most recognized. His defining moment playing for the Yomiuri Giants came on Sept. 3, 1977. Like thousands of other times, he went into his trademark flamingo stance by dangling his right foot seemingly harmlessly in the air and supporting the weight of his body on his sturdy back leg as the pitch came.

From that awkward-looking stance, he attacked the ball and sent it all the way back into the right-field bleachers of Tokyo's Koraku-en Stadium to surpass Hank Aaron as the world's all-time home run hitter with career number 756. He continued adding to his record for three more seasons before retiring in 1980 with an unthinkable 868 home runs.

But for all the captivating he's done of the baseball world's imagination, surprisingly, the veteran of 41 seasons as a player, coach and manager has never worn a uniform in competition outside of Japan. No Olympics, no traveling national teams, not even a Little League World Series.

That will change this week as the 65-year-old manager of Team Japan leads his squad into America for the second round of the World Baseball Classic.

Team Japan — featuring Ichiro — will play the Mariners in an exhibition game tonight in Peoria, Ariz. On Sunday, the Japanese team will begin play in the second round of the WBC, in Anaheim, Calif.

Oh's long overdue debut on a field of international competition is one he cherishes.

"I hit a lot of home runs in the goodwill games MLB teams used to play in Japan in the offseason during my playing years," he recalls. "The major-leaguers used to joke that they were going to take me back with them to play in the States. It wasn't realistic for me to think about playing in the States back then, because it just didn't happen in that era. Now I look at Ichiro and [Hideki] Matsui and I'm very jealous of what they've been able to experience, I really am."

As much as he might have enjoyed joining the competition as a player in the U.S., he admits to a special drive to beat the Americans at their own game as a manager. The American team is expected to also advance to play in Anaheim. Two teams from the games in Anaheim will advance to the WBC semifinals and finals in San Diego, March 18 and 20.

"Our goal as a team is to advance to San Diego," Oh explains. "I hope our opponent on March 18, the semifinal game, is America, and then I look forward to advancing to the championship game by beating them. That's my desire.

"I suppose I feel that way about the Americans because our baseball relations with America are the deepest. It's only natural that America's the standard we've always been shooting for.

"I believe we've closed the gap with them and can compete effectively. Now, through this WBC tournament, I'd like to shock the Americans by showing them the high level of baseball we play. I want them to think, 'Whoa, when did Japan become that strong in baseball?' That's my goal."

Ironically, the man who snatched the world's home-run record from America is hoping to shock the country this time by assembling a team that, on the surface, bears no resemblance to his game. Japan is noticeably light on power, but has many speedy, pesky hitters.

"We can't compete with power, but our batters have great bat control and they know how to make effective contact," he says. "And we've got speed to go with it. It's a given that power's not our forte, so rather than trying to frivolously compete with the Americans in a game of power, we went with what we believe are some of our strengths, speed and pitching.

"Our pitchers have nice technique, they're adept at changing speeds and their control is impressive. I'll tell you something else, our defense is solid. In fact, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that our defense is better than the Americans."

Still, Oh is known for his home runs. He achieved his world record playing in relatively short 130- and 140-game seasons. His 868 home runs came in just 9,250 at-bats because he was walked a Japan record 2,504 times during his career, even more than Barry Bonds (2,311 walks in 20 seasons). Aaron had 12,364 at-bats during his 23-year career.

Oh won 15 home-run titles, 13 of them in succession from 1962-74, triple crowns in '73 and '74, five batting titles, nine MVP awards. He was an all-star 18 times. He's a lifetime .301 hitter and exceeded 100 strikeouts only once, and that was in year two. His 2,170 career RBI are also a Japan record. Batting third ahead of another Japanese baseball icon, Shigeo Nagashima, for most of his career, Oh helped anchor a dominating lineup that won 11 Japan Series titles.

Behind the lofty home-run totals was a training regimen that stressed technique over physical strength. When he practiced swinging the bat, Oh imagined he was slicing through the ball rather than smacking its surface.

"My home runs weren't power home runs, they were technique home runs," he says proudly. "I concentrated on using my entire body in an efficient manner to hit the ball out of the park. Unleashing massive power isn't the only way to hit home runs. You can also achieve the feat by mastering good technique.

"It's the same in other aspects of the game. You don't necessarily win because you're physically the strongest team on the field; you can also win by having the best technique. That's the kind of baseball I want my team to show in this tournament. I think we'll play a game that's respectful of all the nuances of baseball, that, if performed properly, lead to winning baseball in an elegant way."

And so the man whose family name means "king" yearns to reign over the baseball world one more time.

Brad Lefton is a St. Louis-based journalist who covers Ichiro and the Mariners for Japanese media. He has spent his career covering baseball in Japan and America and interviewed Oh in Japanese for this article.