drew 58,300 paying fans. It became well known that as a promoter, Baba would rather use a handshake agreement than a signed contract, as he had a great reputation for keeping his word when it came to match finishes and payrolls. Because of this, many regarded Baba as the most honest promoter in the professional-wrestling business. Throughout 1998, it was becoming clearer and clearer that Baba's health was deteriorating. Despite this, he worked a full-time schedule throughout the year, touring the country and competing on most shows. However, Baba was slowly losing a tremendous amount of weight, and looked much more pale and weak compared to his previous self. His final match, prior to being confined to a hospital bed, occurred on December 5, 1998, at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, where he teamed with Rusher Kimura and Mitsuo Momota to take on Masanobu Fuchi, Haruka Eigen, and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, bringing his career total to 5769 matches. Private life Little is known about Baba's life outside the ring. A reserved and private man, he did not drink or carouse with other wrestlers after shows. Baba was highly respected by foreign wrestlers, as he always made sure that they travelled first class and stayed in the best hotels, and paid for all of their beer and food. Although not a heavy or frequent drinker, Baba was known to have an incredible tolerance for alcohol and consume it for hours without showing any affects. He was a heavy smoker who preferred cigars, but quit after his friend Gyutsu Matsuyama, another heavy smoker, was hospitalised with stomach cancer. On September 16, 1971, he married Motoko Kawai (born January 2, 1940) in Hawaii, a place Baba enjoyed and regularly visited. Knowledge of their wedding was not widely publicized until almost ten years later, when they announced it at a press conference. A ceremony was held in 1983. Baba and his wife had no children fearing the child could also suffer from gigantism. Baba and his wife instead developed a close relationship with Baba's student Atsushi Onita who Baba considered like his own child; Baba and Motoko considered adopting Onita at one point. Onita has said "I learned the most important things as a human being from Mr. Baba". Motoko died on April 14, 2018, from cirrhosis of the liver; she was 78 years old. Death In January 1999, Baba was taken in to a hospital