Abu-san, which ran from 1973 to 2014, follows the exploits of fictional baseball player Yasutake Kageura. It won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1977, and the series sold over 22 million copies. Dokaben, which ran from 1972 to 1981, was published in a whopping 205 total tankobon volumes—which is the most volumes for a series. Dokaben was a high school baseball manga, but the characters lived on in spin-offs that followed their amateur and pro careers. Yakyu-kyo no Uta, which ran from 1972 to 1976, told the story of a young woman who planned to be a vet, but ended up a baseball player. The manga won the Kodansha Literature Culture Award for children’s manga, and was adapted into an anime series, an animated movie, a live-action movie, and a live-action TV series.

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(Full disclosure: Kodansha published my first two books.)

As ANN notes, Mizushima received the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosette award for contributions to entertainment and culture from the Japanese government in 2014.

As Mizushima had requested, his family held a private funeral. May he rest in peace.