Hiroshima survivor, baseball legend Harimoto dies at 86

Korean-Japanese baseball legend Isao Harimoto, the all-time hits leader in Japan’s top professional league and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, has died at the age of 86.

The Japanese Professional Baseball Meikyukai, an association of elite former players also known as the Golden Players Club, announced Thursday that Harimoto died Wednesday afternoon.

The organization expressed its “deep respect and gratitude” for Harimoto’s achievements and contributions to baseball and offered condolences following his death. No cause was immediately announced.

Known as the “Hit Machine,” Harimoto accumulated 3,085 hits during a 23-season career from 1959 to 1981. He remains the only player to record 3,000 hits entirely in Nippon Professional Baseball.

He finished his career with a .319 batting average, 504 home runs, 1,676 runs batted in and 319 stolen bases across 2,752 games.

Harimoto is the only Nippon Professional Baseball player to combine at least 500 home runs with 300 stolen bases. Only Barry Bonds, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez have achieved the same power-and-speed combination in Major League Baseball.

He began his professional career with the Toei Flyers in 1959, earning Pacific League Rookie of the Year honors during his debut season.

Harimoto won seven batting titles, including four consecutively from 1967 to 1970, and was named the Pacific League’s Most Valuable Player in 1962, when he helped the Flyers capture their first Japan Series championship.

He later played for the Yomiuri Giants and Lotte Orions before retiring in 1981.

Harimoto was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

- Overcoming injury, discrimination and atomic bombing

Harimoto was born Jang Hun in Hiroshima on June 19, 1940, to Korean parents who had moved to Japan while the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.

At the age of four, he suffered severe burns to his right hand in an accident. The injuries left several fingers permanently damaged and forced the naturally right-handed Harimoto to learn to throw and bat left-handed.

He later used a specially designed glove that fit over his injured right hand, allowing him to field the ball despite his limited movement.

A year later, Harimoto was in Hiroshima when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city on Aug. 6, 1945.

His family home was about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the hypocenter and stood behind a small hill. Harimoto and one of his sisters survived after their mother shielded them, although she was wounded by flying glass.

Harimoto eventually spoke publicly about his experience as a hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivor, and advocated against war and nuclear weapons.

Harimoto retained his South Korean citizenship for most of his life despite being born and raised in Japan. He revealed in a 2024 interview that he had obtained Japanese citizenship several years earlier.

After retiring as a player, Harimoto became a prominent baseball commentator and television analyst.