Japanese baseball marked the end of an era on Thursday, when a crowd of 250 turned out to pay their final respects to Hall of Fame manager Toshiharu Ueda at a memorial service in Yokohama.Ueda, who died on Saturday at the age of 80 was likely the last of his kind in a baseball society that generally demands its managers be players of stature.But Ueda, who managed his teams to 1,322 regular series victories, three Japan Series titles and five Pacific League pennants played in just 122 first-team games in three undistinguished seasons.While he was famous for steering the historic Hankyu Brave…READ FULL ARTICLE
