The Yomiuri Giants' outspoken chairman Tsuneo Watanabe believes that Fukuoka Softbank Hawks chairman Sadaharu Oh is the right person to replace embattled Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato at the end of the latter's term.
In fielding questions on who he thought should be a candidate to replace Kato, who has come under fire after NPB secretly altered its baseballs this season, Watanabe said Oh would be the right person to take the job.
"No one else comes to mind," Watanabe said. "Looking at all of the respective team owners, do you think there is anyone else (who is appropriate) whom people would want to follow? I don't think anyone else fits the bill."
Oh himself, however, said on Monday that physically he is not competent to take the position. The Japanese all-time home run leader had his stomach removed due to cancer in 2006.
"The only way is for him to somehow recover. If there could be some way of it not hindering his health, maybe he would be willing to take the job," said Watanabe.