Once unthinkable twice over
Shohei Ohtani's success as both a pitcher and hitter is astonishing. Not so long ago, there were doubts that a player from Japan could do either at the major league level
Part 1: Japanese players prove themselves
On Feb. 12, 1995, the Dodgers signed Hideo Nomo, who had led Nippon Professional Baseball in victories and strikeouts in his first four seasons, to a minor-league contract with a $2 million signing bonus
This was big news — in Japan.
In the United States, it was less so. Even in the Dodgers’ home market. The Los Angeles Times stuck a few paragraphs from the Dodgers beat writer Bob Nightengale about the signing in a box with its sports news briefs.
Dodgers vice president Fred Claire answered the question of the fans who took note of the signing: Could a player from Nippon Professional Baseball make it in MLB?
“He has the type of ability that we believe is at a major-league level,” Claire told the Los Angeles Times. “I think he has the ability to be a starting pitcher this year.”
Orel Hershiser has left the Dodgers, and the team hoped Nomo could replace him in the rotation.
Some early news accounts of Nomo’s moving to the Dodgers said he was the first player from the Japanese majors to try to make it in MLB. They left out Masanori Murakami, who had played for the Giants in 1964 and 1965. He was largely forgotten. 1
At an introductory press conference in downtown Los Angeles, there was a huge media throng. Mostly from Japan.
“I know it is not a big story in the United States, maybe because they don’t know him, but he’s a star in Japan,’’ a reporter told Nightengale.
The feel-good story of 1995
The Dodgers brought Nomo, 26, along slowly, partly out of legal necessity. The players union was on strike. MLB had replacement players in spring training that season, but federal law prohibited them from bringing in a foreign worker as a replacement.
So Nomo started in the minor league camp. The club had Luis Tiant, its Double-A pitching coach to work with him.
Nomo was nicknamed “The Tornado” for his odd windup where he turned his back to the plate before whipping around to deliver a pitch. Tiant’s delivery was similar, so he was perfect to work with the newcomer.
The strike was settled on April 2. The Dodgers decided to ease Nomo into pro baseball with an appearance in a Class-A game.
Nomo made his pro debut about 40 minutes (in light traffic) east on I-10 in Rancho Cucamonga at the Epicenter, starting for the Bakersfield Blaze against the Quakes. He was on a 90-pitch limit and went 5 1/3, allowing two runs and taking the loss.
He made his first MLB start against the Giants on May 5. pitching 5 scoreless innings and getting me a decision. Through the end of May, he pitched decently, going 0-1 with a 3.82 ERA
Everything changed in June. Nomo went 6-0 and lowered his season ERA to 2.05. And he became the biggest thing in baseball.
His drawing power was likened to Fernando Valenzuela’s rookie season in 1981 when Fernando-mania swept through Southern California. Nomo’s popularity, like Valenzuela’s, was fueled by a combination of success and pride from a large local ethnic population.
Baseball was still dealing with the fallout from the 1994 player strike that had resulted in the cancellation of the end of the 1994 season and the entire postseason. The game needed a feel-good story. Here was an exciting player with an added selling point — he had nothing to do with the labor problems.
He was chosen to start the All-Star Game for the National League. He finished the season with a 13-6 record. a 2.54 ERA led the league n strikeouts, and was instrumental in the Dodgers winning the 1995 NL West title. He won the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
Nomo never had a season quite as good as his first, though he was a dependable starter for several more seasons.
Hideo Nomo’s statistics
Year Age Tm W L ERA IP SO
1995 26 LAD 13 6 2.54 191.1 236
1996 27 LAD 16 11 3.19 228.1 234
1997 28 LAD 14 12 4.25 207.1 233
1998 29 TOT 6 12 4.92 157.1 167
1998 29 LAD 2 7 5.05 67.2 73
1998 29 NYM 4 5 4.82 89.2 94
1999 30 MIL 12 8 4.54 176.1 161
2000 31 DET 8 12 4.74 190.0 181
2001 32 BOS 13 10 4.50 198.0 220
2002 33 LAD 16 6 3.39 220.1 193
2003 34 LAD 16 13 3.09 218.1 177
2004 35 LAD 4 11 8.25 84.0 54
2005 36 TBD 5 8 7.24 100.2 59
2008 39 KCR 0 0 18.69 4.1 3
Career 123 109 4.24 1976.1 1918
Murakami’s experience
Fred Claire and the Dodgers took a risk with Nomo — but not that big a risk. There were good reasons to believe Nomo would succeed.
I am sure there were skeptics inside baseball, but Japanese players were not an unknown commodity to MLB front offices.
The Dodgers, who had been playing exhibition games against NPB players in Japan since the 1950s. MLB All-Star teams had played Japanese All-Star teams. Japanese teams had come here for spring training. And MLB players had gone to play in the NPB.
And of course, there was Masanori Murakami. Now he only pitched for two seasons in MLB and left, and then were no other players from Japan in MLB for 30 years. So you might think he must not have been any good. Au contraire.2
His short MLB career went well. He had just finished his age 21 season. In his season-plus as a reliever in MLB, he had a 5-1 record, a 3.43 ERA with nine saves. The Giants wanted to keep him. What wasn’t to like?
The Nankai Hawks wanted Murakami. back and said he was only there on a loan.
NPB teams could see where this might be heading. They came up with an agreement with MLB, which was basically you can’t have any NPB players.
Agents of change
So how did Nomo become available? He had clever player agents, Arn Tellem and Don Nomura. They figured out that Nomo was under an ironclad contract with Kintetsu Buffaloes. The Buffaloes owned his rights until he retired. That was the key.
Nomo retired.
Now he could play in the United States.
In late 1997 the NPB came up with a posting system that compensated NPB teams with cash for players MLB signed. The compensation, known as a posting fee, is based on the size of the player’s contract with an MLB team. The finer points have been revised a couple of times, but that is basically how it works.
After Nomo’s success with the Dodgers, other players followed, eight from 1996 through 2000. All were pitchers.
The outfielders enter
In 2001, the first two position players from NPB made it to MLB, outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Tsuyoshi Shinjo.
NBP players had shown they could pitch at the MLB level. Could they hit MLB pitching? Even a young Ichiro Suzuki had once expressed doubts.
Shinjo spent three seasons in the majors hitting .245.
Shinjo was originally with the Mets and then played for the Giants in 2002 and became the first player for Japan to appear in a World Series. He went back to the Mets for his final season in the majors.
He is best remembered as a flashy fielder and for well . . . just being flashy. A scouting report called him a ”heartthrob.” He was married to a top model in Japan.
After returning to Japan, Shinjo played three more seasons in NPB, then embarked on a career as an underwear model, and he was a big winner on Japan’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
Ichiro was the real story. He signed a 3-year, $14 million deal with the Mariners. He caught everyone’s attention by wanting to go by his first name, as he had in Japan, saying Suziki was too common a name.
That led to a funny Mariners ad:
Ichiro had won seven batting titles in Japan. His first had come in 1994, when he hit .385 in his first full season with Orix Blue Wave, just missing Randy Bass’ record of .389.
Ichiro went to the Hawaiian Winter League that year, where he played against top minor leaguers, and batted .311 for Hilo.
Sam Jameson of the Los Angeles Times caught up with him. How would this young center fielder who was only making $80,000 a year do in the majors?
Could he hit .300 or anywhere near it?
A former Tokyo Giants star, Suguru Egawa, thought Ichiro coudln’t handle the faster pitchers in MLB.
Ichiro said he could at least get a bat on the ball.
“But I’ve never even thought of playing in the major leagues,’’ he said. “If I did, I’d probably only hit .250.”
The Mariners were expecting better than a .250 hitter seven years later. Ichiro delivered.
In his first season, Ichiro hit .350, won the American League batting title, stole 56 bases, was voted Rookie of the Year and MVP. He helped the Mariners to a 116-win season, the best ever in the AL and tying the 1906 Cubs.
He hit 300 or better for 10 consecutive seasons. In 2004 he collected 262 hits, setting a major league record. Though he did not start his MLB career until his age 27 season. But he managed to accumulate 3,089 hits.
Ichiro and Noma had proven the best of NPB could hold their own anywhere.
Ichiro Suzuki statistics
Year Age Tm AB H HR SB BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
2001 27 SEA 692 242 8 56 .350 .381 .457 .838 126
2002 28 SEA 647 208 8 31 .321 .388 .425 .813 120
2003 29 SEA 679 212 13 34 .312 .352 .436 .788 112
2004 30 SEA 704 262 8 36 .372 .414 .455 .869 130
2005 31 SEA 679 206 15 33 .303 .350 .436 .786 113
2006 32 SEA 695 224 9 45 .322 .370 .416 .786 106
2007 33 SEA 678 238 6 37 .351 .396 .431 .827 122
2008 34 SEA 686 213 6 43 .310 .361 .386 .747 102
2009 35 SEA 639 225 11 26 .352 .386 .465 .851 129
2010 36 SEA 680 214 6 42 .315 .359 .394 .754 113
2011 37 SEA 677 184 5 40 .272 .310 .335 .645 86
2012 38 TOT 629 178 9 29 .283 .307 .390 .696 93
2012 38 SEA 402 105 4 15 .261 .288 .353 .642 82
2012 38 NYY 227 73 5 14 .322 .340 .454 .794 113
2013 39 NYY 520 136 7 20 .262 .297 .342 .639 77
2014 40 NYY 359 102 1 15 .284 .324 .340 .664 89
2015 41 MIA 398 91 1 11 .229 .282 .279 .561 58
2016 42 MIA 327 95 1 10 .291 .354 .376 .730 102
2017 43 MIA 196 50 3 1 .255 .318 .332 .649 79
2018 44 SEA 44 9 0 0 .205 .255 .205 .460 33
2019 45 SEA 5 0 0 0 .000 .167 .000 .167 -47
Caerrr 9934 3089 117 509 .311 .355 .402 .757 107
www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/suzukic01.shtml
Next week: Ohtani had to buck the system in Japan and U.S.
BONUS FRAMES
Best dog-pile celebration of the year
The award has to go to the Idaho Falls Bandits, who celebrated last week after winning back-to-back (sort of) American Legion World Series titles in Shelbyville, N.C.
Idaho Falls won in 2019, and there was no American Legion World Series in 2020. The Bandits successfully defended their title, just not in consecutive years. No doubt that will make a great question for American Legion World Series trivia someday.
Idaho Falls is the first team from the Potato State to win the American Legon World Series.
Idaho is not exactly a hotbed for baseball talent. It has produced one great player, Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. 3
So my first thought is they got just the right group together — a kind of once-in-a-lifetime alignment of forces.
Well, consider this. Center fielder Kai Howell was the only player from the 2019 team on this team.
Nate Rose was the MVP of the tournament (officially the 2021 George W. Rulon American Legion Baseball Player of the Year). Rose played shortstop and pitched, hit .438 in the Northwest Regionals with a 1-0 record on the mound and batted .529 in the ALWS won his only decision. Rose will attend the College of Southern Idaho next year but has a year of eligibility left in Legion ball.
Three-peat?
Why not a season-ending tradition?
The Giants and Dodgers meet for the last time this season in early September. The Red Sox and Yankees play three more times in late September.
Wouldn’t it be great if they ended the season playing each other?
Every season.
If both rivals were contending, it would add to the drama. If only one was, the other would get a chance to spoiler with a team they have real enmity for. If neither are, well, fans might find it a little more meaningful than say, playing a team from the other league with a sub-.500 record.
A major league schedule is hard to put together. There are 30 teams. You have to make it so say the Mets don’t have to fly to Los Angeles for three games, fly back to New York for three games, then go back to the West Coast. There are a lot of moving parts. Every team needs days off.
Still, it seems to me they could find a way to pencil in Giants-Dodgers, Red Sox-Yankees -- maybe throw in the Cubs-Cardinals -- on the final weekend every year.
Oddities for the end
When the Giants’ Donovan Solano hit a pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning Sunday he made history. His blast gave the Giants the lead over the Athletics. The day before LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to give Giants the lead. No team had ever erased a deficit and taken a lead in back-to-back games on pinch-hit homers in the 8th inning or later. . . . On the Aug.24 Mets telecast, play-by-play man Gary Cohen mentioned that the Mets had never held a “bat day” promotion. Cohen said he received numerous from one older fan, who insisted the Mets did in act hold a bat day in 1968. This individual received a Cleon Jones replica bat. The fan, Cohen revealed, was Keith Olderman . . . The Yankees and Braves took nine-game winning streaks into their Aug. 23 matchup. That was the first time two teams with streaks that long played each other since 1901. . . . On Aug. 18, Freddie Freeman became the second Braves player to hit for the cycle twice in his career He joins Herman Long, who hit for the cycle in 1896 and 1900 for the Boston Braves.
NOTES
1
One of the things that is hard to believe now is what little reference material was available to newspaper sportswriters in the early days of the Internet and before. No search engines, no baseball-reference.com. We had some media guides and the Baseball Encyclopedia. That was if you were in the office. If you were out at a game, you had to hope someone in the office would help you out. I remember an Ohio reporter calling his office from the press box at a spring training game trying to find out how many RBI Joe Gordon for Cleveland in 1948. As I recall, no one there could find it. They would call him back later.
Or you could rely on the clippings in Art Spander’s trunk. Spander was a longtime San Francisco Examiner columnist. When an earthquake rocked Candlestick Park before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, he took a couple of Canadian writers out to the parking lot, opened his trunk, and dug out a file full of articles about the park.
My wife is trying to learn French so she can understand the French mystery shows she likes. So I am trying to impress her. Is it working? Check back with me next week.
Only a dozen Idaho natives have had an MLB career longer than five seasons.
The greatest player to hail from Idaho Falls was Carl Gustav Spongberg, who actually grew up in Montpelier. Spongberg pitched a game with the 1908 Cubs. His story can be found here.
Walter Johnson is often thought to be from Idaho, his connection is somewhat tenuous. Johnson was born in Kansas and lived there until his late teens, when his family moved to Southern California. He graduated from Fullerton High School. After failing to make it with Tacoma of the Northwest League, he played for a semipro team Weiser, Idaho, where the Senators found him. Three Idaho natives who appeared in the big leagues this season, Josh Osich, Damon Jones, and James Hoyt.
The University of Idaho has nine alumni who made it to the majors, the most prominent being Bill Stoneman. He spent eight seasons pitching for the Cubs, Expos, and Angels and threw two no-hitters. He was the Angels’ general manager from 1999 to 2007 and served as interim GM for three months in 2015.
Idaho State has produced two MLB players.
Lewis and Clark in Lewiston is the college powerhouses, with 18 MLB alumni, including Connor Brogden, Seth Brown, and Blaine Hardy who played in MLB this season.