He may be the greatest Japanese player of all-time, but Sadaharu Oh ranks second in the hearts of his countrymen. The sports figure Japanese fans love most is instead a man known as "Mr. Giants."

Currently Yomiuri's beloved manager, Shigeo Nagashima played third base for the Giants from 1958-74. Ranking tenth on the all-time batting list with a career .305 average, the 1958 Rookie of the Year went on to club 444 home runs with 1522 RBIs in seventeen seasons. But even more than his consistent plate production, Nagashima earned the nickname Mr. Giants because of his clutch-hitting and grandstanding fighting spirit.

Joining the Giants in 1958, Nagashima appeared one season with legendary hitter Tetsuharu Kawakami. Playing his entire career with the Giants (1938-58), Kawakami earned five batting titles and retired with a .313 career average. The Giants infielder would often claim that while standing in the batters box, he could see the heart of the ball as it "stopped" just before he swung. Kawakami later became Yomiuri manager and led the Giants to nine-straight Japan Series titles.

In his 22 seasons (1959-80), Sadaharu Oh compiled a .301 lifetime average while setting records for home runs (868) and RBIs (1967) in addition to winning two straight triple crowns (1973-74). A nine-time MVP who also holds the single-season home run record (55 in 1964), in his early days the Yomiuri first baseman was mocked for his flamingo batting stance, with his left leg planted and his right thigh raised parallel to the ground. Oh's shy and aloof demeanor never attracted as many fans as Nagashima's dramatic acting.

Like Oh, hurler Masaichi Kaneda suffered from prejudice. But proud of his Korean ancestry, Kaneda persevered. Playing for the Kokutetsu Swallows (1950-64) and Yomiuri Giants (1965-69), the southpaw pitcher now holds several career pitching records, including most wins (400), losses (298), strikeouts (4490), complete games (365) and innings pitched (5526 2/3).

Tired of being overworked by the Kokutetsu, Kaneda declared himself a free agent and signed with the Giants after being assured that he could practice on his own while pitching fewer games. Highly controversial at the time, his unusual demands earned him the nickname "Emperor Kaneda." Winning three Sawamura awards, the "God of Pitching" also threw two no-hitters, including a ten-strikeout perfect game in 1957.

A legend so revered that Japan's version of the Cy Young Award was named after him, Yomiuri pitcher Eiji Sawamura enjoyed a brief professional career (1936-43) before he was drafted into the Imperial Navy and killed in 1944. In five seasons Sawamura pitched three no-hitters while compiling a 63-22 lifetime record with 554 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA.

In an era when Major League franchises toured Japan and humiliated the locals with very lopsided scores, Sawamura will always be remembered for pitching five no-hit innings against a team of American all-stars, only to lose the game 1-0 after Lou Gehrig belted a seventh-inning home run.

The first Caucasian to play professionally for a Japanese team, Victor Starfin arrived in Japan when his parents fled Russia shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. While playing alongside Sawamura, Starfin's numbers were virtually the same if not better. Surviving the war, the Russian-born hurler played with several other teams, eventually retiring after nineteen seasons (1936-55) with a career 303-176 record, 1960 strikeouts and a 2.09 lifetime ERA.

Picking up where Sawamura left off, Hideo Fujimoto pitched thirteen seasons (1942-55), all except one (1947) with the Giants, and compiled a record low 1.90 career ERA. Minoru Murayama, a Hanshin Tigers pitcher from 1959-72, set the modern single season record with a 0.98 ERA in 1970.

Though Kaneda compiled more career wins and strikeouts than any other Japanese pitcher, Starfin (1939) and Nishitetsu Lions ace Kazuhisa Inao (1961) both earned a single-season record 42 wins. Tigers hurler Yutaka Enatsu (1967-84) struck out a record 401 batters in 1968.

While Inao (1956-69) may have been the best Pacific League pitcher of his era, Nankai Hawks catcher Katsuya Nomura and Toei Flyers outfielder Isao Harimoto were the PL's top batters. From 1954-80, Nomura played 3017 games, more than any other player, and slugged a league record 657 home runs. Harimoto, who played the last six seasons of his career (1959-81) with the Giants and Lotte Orions, earned seven PL batting titles and retired with a lifetime .319 batting average, 504 home runs, and a record 3085 hits.

Two of Harimoto's records, a single - season .383 and career .319 batting average stood for several years. In 1985, Hanshin's Randy Bass earned his first triple crown, belting 54 home runs in 130 games (it took Oh 140 games to a record 55 in 1964). The following year, Bass earned his second triple crown with a .389 batting average, breaking Harimoto's mark. Ending his Japanese career two years seasons later in a bitter dispute with the Tigers, Bass "retired" with a .337 six-year batting average and 202 home runs.

Meanwhile, Leron Lee closed in on Harimoto's other record. Earning the PL home run and RBI crown in his 1977 debut with the Lotte Orions, Lee retired in 1987 with a record .320 career batting average. His 283 home runs rank first among foreign players. His brother Leon Lee (1978-87) compiled a .308 career average with 268 home runs while playing with the Orions, Taiyo Whales and Yakult Swallows.

Retiring the same year as the Lee's, Hiroshima Carp third baseman Sachio Kinugasa (1965-87) played in 2215 consecutive games, a world record that he held until Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken surpassed the mark a decade later. Like Lou Gehrig, Kinugasa was a slugger (504 home runs, .270 career average), who often played in the shadow of teammate Koji Yamamoto (536 homers, .290 from 1969-86).

Though power-hitters gain the most attention in Japan, Hankyu Braves outfielder Yutaka Fukumoto (1969-88) earned several speed records including most career steals (1065) and triples (115). A well-rounded player, the left-handed batter also clubbed 208 home runs and compiled a .291 career batting average.