TOKYO -- Isao Harimoto, the baseball great who survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb and still holds Japan's hits record, has died. He was 86.

The Golden Players Club said Harimoto died on Wednesday without specifying the cause. He started his professional career in 1959 with the then-Toei Flyers, becoming the first player in Japan to reach 3,000 hits in 1980 and finishing with 3,085. Nicknamed "Hit Machine," he was born to Korean parents in Hiroshima in 1940. At age four, severe burns cost him most of his right hand's mobility. He was five when he survived the U.S. atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945.

In his 23-year career, Harimoto was an 18-time All-Star who hit 504 home runs and played 2,752 games. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

After retirement, Harimoto became a popular commentator and an anti-war and nuclear disarmament advocate, determined to keep telling the painful history as "one of the last living messengers."