TOKYO: The manager of Japan’s Yomiuri Giants baseball club has apologized over a scandal in which he reportedly paid off ex-gangsters threatening to reveal his extramarital affair, reports said yesterday.

“I am sorry for causing an uproar in the media over something unrelated to baseball,” Tatsunori Hara, 53, told his players, coaches and team staff, according to Japanese media.

“I have personally reflected on this matter and I am already moving forward. Let us unite together and stay strong toward the goal of becoming number one in Japan.”

The weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported in its latest edition that Hara paid 100 million yen ($1.25 million) in 2006 to former gangsters blackmailing him over an affair he had in 1988 when he was a star slugger.

In a statement released by the club on Wednesday, Hara admitted to having the affair as well as paying the money to two men.

But the Giants denied Hara knew the men were linked to organized crime, adding that police told the club the blackmailers were not gangsters. It said it would sue the magazine for libel and seek damages.

The magazine said it stood by its article.

The two blackmailers reportedly told Hara in 2006 they had a diary by the woman detailing her relationship.

The Giants said it first became aware of the problem in April 2009 when another man visited the club threatening to expose the affair.

In a separate statement, Hara accused the team’s former general manager, who is embroiled in a legal battle with the Giants over his dismissal last year, of leaking to local media unspecified “damaging” information about the club.

Hara, a former star Giants player previously known for his squeaky clean image, has managed Japan’s oldest existing professional baseball club from 1999 to 2003 and from 2006 to present.

He led the team to the Central League title in 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2009, winning the Japan Series against the champions of the Pacific League in 2000, 2002 and 2009.

Hara also managed Japan’s national team in 2009 when they retained the title of the international World Baseball Classic tournament.