The late Jang Hoon, a legend of Japanese baseball, wears the Yomiuri Giants uniform he had worn for a ceremonial first pitch at an NPB game, during a donation ceremony for his memorabilia in May 2018. Jang died Wednesday at a hospital in Tokyo at age 86. (Newsis)
The late Jang Hoon, a legend of Japanese baseball, wears the Yomiuri Giants uniform he had worn for a ceremonial first pitch at an NPB game, during a donation ceremony for his memorabilia in May 2018. Jang died Wednesday at a hospital in Tokyo at age 86. (Newsis)

Jang Hoon, a legend of Nippon Professional Baseball known in Japan as Isao Harimoto, has died. He was 86.

According to major Japanese media outlets including TBS, Jang died at a hospital in Tokyo around 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Jang, an ethnic Korean born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1940, played for the Toei Flyers, Yomiuri Giants and Lotte Orions, among other teams. He started playing baseball in elementary school, but a severe injury to his right hand as a child forced him to throw and bat left-handed. Standing 1.81 meters tall with a naturally sharp batting eye, he made his debut in 1959 wearing the uniform of the Toei Flyers, now the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

He won the Pacific League Rookie of the Year award in his debut season and moved to the Yomiuri Giants in 1976. After also playing for the Lotte Orions, he retired in 1981 with a career batting average of .319 and 504 home runs over 2,752 games across 23 years. His career games played and batting average rank third in NPB history, and his home run total ranks seventh. With 3,085 career hits, he became the first — and remains the only — player in NPB history to record 3,000 hits entirely within Japan's professional league. He won the batting title seven times and was inducted into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

After retiring, Jang became a baseball commentator, earning the nickname "Mr. Bitter Tongue" for his blunt commentary and gaining wide popularity. He also contributed to the development of Korean professional baseball, serving as a special adviser to the commissioner of the Korea Baseball Organization. In recognition of his contributions, he received South Korea's Order of Sports Merit, Maenghojang class, in 1980, and the Order of Civil Merit, Mugunghwa Medal, in 2007.


yjc@heraldcorp.com