It was good seeing former Yomiuri Giants third baseman and manager Shigeo Nagashima visiting the team's spring training camp in Miyazaki earlier this month. He just turned 81 this past week and is visibly handicapped by a stroke suffered in 2004 that limits movement on the right side of his body and has affected his speech. Nevertheless, he has made the annual February trip to south Kyushu in recent years.
He is there to encourage the team and, no doubt, recall the happy memories of Miyazaki camps when he was an All-Star and unquestionably the most popular player in Japan.
Seeing him brings back memories of his playing days during a career that stretched from his rookie season with the Giants in 1958 through his emotional sayonara speech upon retirement after the final game of the 1974 season.