Senichi Hoshino: Gold medal dreams for baseball's big hitter

(CNN) -- The most charismatic figure in Japanese baseball, and potentially one its greatest coaches, Senichi Hoshino isn't afraid to hold back, either on the field or off it.

Anjali Rao speaks to the coach of the Japanese Olympic baseball team about his fearsome reputation and the importance of baseball in Japan's national consciousness.

As a pugnacious coach and once a wily and skilled player, Hoshino holds a special place in the hearts of Japanese baseball fans. He's gained supporters not just from the clubs he's coached but across the baseball world with his fiery personality and the gritty and determined way in which his teams play, mirroring his own playing style and personality.

For the same reasons he's also caused plenty of controversy throughout his career. Now 61, as a team manager Hoshino could regularly be seen rising from the bullpen to kick dirt or scream at umpires.

He's also fought rivals on the field and even attacked his own players, both verbally and physically. This unchecked passion might have brought him fans but he has his detractors, too.

In his 1991 book "Slugging It Out in Japan," Warren Cromartie, a player from another team who played against Hoshino called him "a cocky little ass... and made 'fighting baseball' his motto."

While fans of the teams that he's managed love him for his aggression, players who have been on the wrong end of his temper, and on the same team, have not always been so positive about their manager.

Numerous former players who have been coached by Hoshino have said that black-eyes, cut lips and bruises all sustained by their coach were a common sight. Hoshino admits to it, too.

While a big hitter in the game, Hoshino was a pitcher who played in the Japanese Baseball league with the Chunichi Dragons from 1968 to 1983.

Spending his entire playing career with the team he went on to manage them, until he swapped the baseball diamond for the golden glow of TV, and exposed another side of his personality with his erudite analysis of the game.

It was as manager of the Hanshin Tigers that Hoshino found his most success. Inheriting the team in 2002, it hadn't won a trophy for 18 years, yet he led them to the Central League Championship in 2003. However the season took its toll, and Hoshino retired at the end of that season because of ill health.

While controversial in his man-management methods, he now has the chance to lift the spirits of the nation as coach of the national team at this year's Olympics. If Japan could take the gold medal it would make Hoshino a national hero and vindicate his coaching style, and given his reputation, who would argue with that? E-mail to a friend

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