Baseball legend Sadaharu Oh (王貞治) today received the Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon, becoming the first athlete to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor.
President William Lai (賴清德) conferred the medal on the “Home Run King” at a ceremony at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Oh is in Taiwan to attend tonight’s match between the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Taiwan’s national team for the upcoming World Baseball Classic as part of the annual Taiwan-Japan exchange series.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The national team is to play the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters tomorrow.
Oh, 85, has set many firsts for both Taiwan and Japan.
The former Yomiuri Giants slugger was awarded Japan’s inaugural People's Honour Award in 1977 for setting the all-time home run world record at 868 — a title he still holds today.
In November last year, he was personally awarded Japan’s highest cultural honor, the Order of Culture, by Emperor Naruhito.
Oh holds Republic of China citizenship through his father, who was born in Zhejiang Province before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government fled to Taiwan.
While he has not lived in Taiwan, Oh maintains close ties with the country.
After he set the Japanese league home run record for a single season in 1965 with 55 home runs, Oh visited Taiwan for the first time, where he ignited a national frenzy.
The December after the deadly magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck Nantou County's Jiji Township (集集) on Sept. 21, 1999, Oh came to personally assist with reconstruction fundraising efforts.
He also threw the ceremonial first pitch at the first baseball game to be held at the new Taipei Dome in December 2023.
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