Japanese baseball icons Hideki Matsui, Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima were among the Olympic torchbearers who carried the flame into Tokyo's National Stadium to begin the 2020 Summer Olympics on Friday. 

Baseball will be featured at the Olympics this summer for the first time since 2008. Six countries are competing in the event -- Japan, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Korea and Israel.

Olympic play begins next Wednesday, July 28, with Japan facing the Dominican Republic at Fukushima Azuma Stadium. The gold medal game will be Saturday, Aug. 7.

The host nation brought out its legends for the opening ceremony. Matsui, Oh and Nagashima are all members of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Matsui played 10 seasons in MLB after a superstar career in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants, and "Godzilla" became a fan favorite with the Yankees. The lefty slugger won a World Series championship with New York in 2009 and was named World Series MVP. He was also a two-time All-Star and hit 175 home runs in his MLB career. 

Oh is the Japanese home run king, having slugged 868 homers in his storied career for Yomiuri. Now 81 years old, Oh played 22 years in Nippon Professional Baseball from 1959-80.

Nagashima played 17 seasons for the Giants from 1958-74. The third baseman had a lifetime batting average of .305 and hit 444 home runs.