Celebrity File Japan by Lint


英文		重要語句
■ If there is one Japanese ballplayer from the past that baseball fans know worldwide it has to be Sadaharu Oh. Today, though, he is better known in Japan as a manager. Having just taken the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks to their second Japan Series title in five years, Oh is again atop the Japanese baseball world.		atop　…の頂上に
■■ It's not often a great player makes for a great manager in Major League Baseball, but Japanese, to a fault, believe great players can become great managers. In Oh's case it has worked out, but he had a bit of rough start. His first managing job with his former team, the Yomiuri Giants (1984-88), resulted in a Central League pennant in 1987, but he failed to deliver the big prize―a Japan Series title.		to a fault　極端に work out　うまくいく
■■■ The bigger problem really was his personality. He has always been a fairly stoic man although he can become animated in the right setting. This did not sit too well with many Giants' fans who always preferred Giants' icon Shigeo Nagashima as a symbol of their ball club both in his playing days and his managing ones. In Japan, Nagashima (known now simply as "Mr."―short for Mr. Giants) is a baseball god although his first stint as Giants' manager was a near disaster despite two pennants but no Japan Series titles and one last-place finish.		stoic　禁欲的な；冷静な animated　快活な sit well with ...　…の同意を得る icon　偶像視される人 short for ...　…の省略形 stint　任務；任期
■■■■ The O-N Cannon (as the Oh-Nagashima star twosome was known) did turn the Yomiuri Giants into a dynasty, but Oh simply is the best player Japan has ever produced. Oh is Japan's all-time leader in home runs, runs, RBI, walks, total bases and slugging average. He won two consecutive Triple Crowns. Adding to that, he played in 20 All-Star games, was named MVP 9 times and was on 11 Japan Series winning teams. His most famous records are those 868 home runs (a pro baseball record although with Japan's shorter distances to the fences in Oh's era, it is still a disputed one in MLB circles) and his 55 home runs in a season.		cannon　大砲 twosome　2人からなる dynasty　支配時代 RBI　打点（run(s) batted inの略） walk　四球；フォアボール total bases　塁打数 slugging average　長打率 triple crown　三冠王 dispute　…について異議を唱える circle　…界
■■■■■ Oh did hit MLB pitching fairly well with 20 home runs in 338 at-bats (equivalent to a 30 home runs over a full MLB season) with a whopping .413 on-base percentage, although he only batted .260, during frequent off-season Japan tours by various MLB teams.		at-bat　打席 equivalent to ...　…に相当する whopping　ひじょうに大きい on-base percentage　出塁率
■■■■■■ Much is made of Oh's mixed background (born in 1940 having a Taiwan-Chinese father and Japanese mother) as Japanese tend to be very race conscious. It didn't help that as a bonus baby out of Waseda High School he struggled when he first went to the fabled Giants in the fall of 1958 at age 18. It wasn't until a few years later when he developed his trademark Mel Ott-like foot-in-the-bucket batting stance (sometimes known as a "flamingo" stance) that Oh became a tremendous home run hitter. Oh, though, was not a one-dimensional player as evidenced by the nine Gold Gloves he picked up as a first baseman.		mixed　異種族間の race conscious　民族意識の強い struggle　奮闘する fabled　伝説的な Mel Ott　大リーグの元本塁打王 foot-in-the-bucket　片足立ちの one-dimensional　深みのない
■■■■■■■ So it comes as no surprise that the Hawks' teams he has managed usually hit for power and are also pretty good defensively. Oh still has some trouble managing a pitching staff, but no more so than most Japanese managers who manage pitching staffs as if they were still in the Dead Ball era. He also has a very calm personality well suited to managing never allowing his teams to get too high or too low. This has worked very well with the Hawks (1993-present).		defensively　守備的に suited to ...　…に適した
■■■■■■■■ Oh has also been a great ambassador to the game in Asia conducting clinics in Taiwan and even raising funds to ship bats, balls, gloves and other baseball equipment to Taiwan's youth baseball leagues. He is a man who has never forgotten his roots and has done a lot to develop such young Japanese stars as 2003 Japan Series MVP catcher Kenji Jojima and hopefully soon-to-be-Major-Leaguer Tadahito Iguchi.		conduct　…を実施する raise funds　資金を募る ship　…を輸送する roots　起源 soon-to-be-...　もうすぐ…になる

－written by Brian Maitland

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