Despite his team languishing in last place, a poll conducted by Chuo Research in June 1997 named Giants Manager Shigeo Nagashima the most popular sports personality in Japan. Not bad for a guy who hasn't done anything productive in two decades.

What accounts for the popularity? Fans insist that Mr. Giants is the embodiment of all good sportsmanlike qualities: hard work, dedication, loyalty, and success. He had a great career, racking up five MVP awards while batting .305 with 444 home runs over seventeen seasons. He was also a driving force behind the V-9 Giants, the team that won nine straight Japan Series victories. That Nagashima was successful, charismatic and from Japan's most popular team essentially assured his god-like stature.

Still, there are those who doubt Nagashima's talent as a manager and they are quick to point out his deficiencies. Former Giants slugger Warren Cromartie summarizes the general consensus that Nagashima "wasn't in [Tetsuharu] Kawakami's class--Kawakami being the V-9 manager. People said that Nagashima would do silly things. He'd forget the rules. He'd go out to the mound twice in an inning without realizing what he was doing and then be forced to take the pitcher out. He also had a revolving door policy toward his pitchers. The gaijin called him "Captain Hook."

More recently, Nagashima bumbled his way through the 1997 season. Though he may not have been responsible for his team acquiring four different free-agent first baseman over the last few years, he actively participated the acquisition of the latest, former Seibu slugger Kazuhiro Kiyohara. The idea behind the acquisitions was to bolster Yomiuri's offense. But at the same time, all those old legs and slow hands weakened the Giants' defense.

Facing Yakult southpaw Kazuhisa Ishii in June 1997, Nagashima tried to pack the Yomiuri Giants with right-handed hitters. By doing so, he shifted diminutive second baseman Toshihisa Nishi to left field, a position he had never played. Unfamiliar with the outfield Nishi misplayed two different line drives that allowed Yakult to score. In another game, Nagashima used all of his position players and had to send pitcher Kazutomo Miyamoto (a .105 batter) in to pinch-hit. Not surprisingly, Miyamoto struck out.

Since their establishment in 1936, the Giants have been stacked with more talent than any other team. Thus the shock when in 1975 Nagashima became Yomiuri manager and led the team to their first losing season since 1947. Losing was bad enough, but coming in last (47-76) forced Nagashima to issue a public apology.

Since 1950 the Giants have only had four losing seasons, all of them under Captain Hook's watch. Over ten seasons (two stints, 1975-80 and 1993 to present) he's led the Giants to 733 wins and 647 losses for a .531 winning percentage. In the twelve seasons between Nagashima's two terms as manager, Sadaharu Oh and Motoshi Fujita led the Giants to 863 wins, or a .580 winning percentage. Mr. Giants numbers are well below the team average.

Yomiuri has always been a strong team, and they've been even stronger when Nagashima wasn't managing.

The problem for the Giants is that there's no easy way to get rid of him. He's too popular. Firing him would only result in a public outcry. As the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's daily newspapers, reported in September 1997, the last time Nagashima was fired subscriptions to Yomiuri's newspapers fell off. Giving Mr. Giants the ax again would likely lead to more cancellations and lost profits.