Legendary baseball hero Jang Hoon (Japanese name Isao Harimoto), a Korean-Japanese, passed away on the 9th. He was 86 years old. Jang Hoon played in Japanese professional baseball from 1959 to 1981, recording a total of 3,850 hits and 504 home runs, earning him the nickname "Hitting Machine." Despite having his right hand deformed due to burns in his childhood, he established himself as a representative player in Japanese professional baseball with his outstanding skills. Jang Hoon was the first player to debut professionally while maintaining Korean nationality, changing the rules of Japanese baseball. He paved the way for many Zainichi Korean players who followed. In 1970, he set a new single-season batting average record with a safety bunt and did not yield to criticism that called him "cowardly." Jang Hoon received the Order of Civil Merit, Mugunghwa Medal, from the Korean government in 2007, making significant contributions to the development of Korean baseball.
