Japanese baseball legend Isao Harimoto, who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima as a child, has died in Tokyo at the age of 86.
Harimoto, popularly known as the “Hit Machine,” holds the record for the most hits in Japanese professional baseball history, recording 3,085 hits during a remarkable 23-season career.
He remains the only player in Nippon Professional Baseball history to reach 3,000 hits. He also recorded 504 home runs and 319 stolen bases, becoming the only NPB player to achieve at least 500 home runs and 300 stolen bases.
The baseball great was an 18-time All-Star and helped the Toei Flyers win their first Japan Series championship in 1962. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.
Born Jang Hun in Hiroshima in 1940 to Korean parents, Harimoto grew up in Japan at a time when Koreans faced discrimination and legal restrictions. He later adopted the Japanese name Isao Harimoto and obtained Japanese citizenship.
His childhood was marked by a serious accident that severely burned his right hand, restricting movement in his thumb and forefinger and leaving his other fingers curled. Despite the injury, he learned to bat and throw left-handed and used a specially designed glove.
Harimoto was five years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He later recalled that his mother shielded him and his sister with her body when the bomb exploded, while another sister was killed.
Despite the trauma of the bombing, his disability and discrimination, Harimoto went on to build one of the greatest careers in Japanese baseball.
He joined the Toei Flyers in 1959 and spent 16 seasons with the club before later playing for the Yomiuri Giants and Lotte Orions.
Harimoto won seven batting titles, including four consecutive titles from 1967 to 1970, a feat later matched by Japanese baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki.
He retired in 1981 after appearing in 2,752 games.
Following his playing career, Harimoto contributed to the development of South Korea’s professional KBO baseball league, which was launched in 1982. He later became a prominent baseball commentator and pundit.
The Golden Players Club, known as Meikyukai, paid tribute to Harimoto after his death, honouring his outstanding contribution to baseball.
Harimoto leaves behind a remarkable legacy, remembered not only for his extraordinary statistics but also for overcoming disability, discrimination and the trauma of surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to become one of Japan’s greatest baseball players.
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