In 1995, Japanese born Hideo Nomo became only the third player from Asia to break into the ranks of the major leagues, following Masanori Murakami of Japan in 1964, and teammate Chan Ho Park from South Korea in 1994.
In his debut season in the United States, he was named the starting pitcher in that year’s All-Star game and won Rookie of the Year honors. He proved that Japanese imported players could compete with the level of play of Major League ballplayers in this new “steroid” era.
With him came the surge of players from a well-developed Japanese league that would change the face of baseball forever. Now that Nomo opened the gates, other Major League teams started recruiting from Japan, Korea, and other Far East nations. Players such as Byung-Hyun Kim, Hideki Irabu, Ichiro, and Hideki Matsui seem to come in with every passing year, bringing with them different playing styles, and adding a new demographic to the face of Major League Baseball.
The aspect that separates the emergence of Asian players in the Majors from the emergence of African-American players is the intensity of media coverage. When African-American players were just beginning to be integrated into baseball, the media coverage of the time was limited to newspapers, radio, and scattered television broadcasts of games. The reasoning behind African-American ballplayers originally not being integrated into baseball, obviously, came out of racism and segregation.
The reasons for Asian players' slow integration into baseball was talent. For years, American “Baseball-ists” saw Japanese players as lacking the physical ability to compete with the more professionally trained athletes in the United States. This stereotype is one that has been overcome over the past twelve years.
Hideo Nomo and Kazuhiro Sasaki won Rookie of the Year awards. Ichiro won an MVP award. Hideki Okajima and Daisuke Matsuzaka helped pitch the Red Sox to a World Series Championship. Japan emerged as the champions of the 2006 World Baseball Classic. These occurrences over the past twelve years have helped prove what former major league player and coach Bobby Valentine, who now manages the Chiba Lotte Marines has been saying for years: The Japanese really can play baseball.
Three years ago, Valentine said that every starting position player in Japan could make a Major League team. "Now, it's at least that good,'' Valentine said. "Instead of just making the roster, a lot could be starting in the U.S. But people don't believe that because people [presumably MLB scouts and executives] come over here and see a guy for only three games and say, 'He can't play.' But you see a guy for 30 games, they would say, 'I'd like to have that guy’”.
The two most recent Japanese imports that made all MLB executives say, “I’d like to have that guy” were Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007 and Hiroki Kuroda in 2008. These two pitchers come from similarly successful baseball careers in Japan, and then moved onto the greener pastures of the Major Leagues in big-market cities (Daisuke going to Boston and Hiroki to Los Angeles).
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Paul Bissonnette about 1 year ago
Don't be too quick to believe the "Michael Jordan of Japan" comment--it seems that SOMEONE says that regarding EVERY star that goes to the major leagues. But just as we have seen in the NBA, which since Michael Jordan retired, has failed to produce even ONE more player with the iconic ability to attract the devotion of even non-fans, we see that in Japan also Michael Jordans don't grow on trees.
After more than thirty years watching Japanese baseball here, I would say that in that time only two players have reached the status of icons anywhere near that of Michael Jordan, and they would be Saduhara Oh, and his teammate, Shigeo Nagashima, both of the Yomiuri Giants when that team was truly Japan's Team--very very different from their middling status now. I was once given friendly advice from a Japanese colleague in the same company where I worked, to be very careful about criticizing Nagashima, who by that time had become the manager of the Giants, to middle aged Japanese clients over drinks--he told me that for that generation, Nagashima was a god, and my foreigner's comments would not be well received or understood. (God bless you in heaven, Mr. Saito, for that great advice.)
Next in the pantheon would be Ichiro, who achieved his status in spite of playing for a team who would never have been noticed if not for him, and then, Matsui for batting cleanup for the Giants. As for Matsuzaka, there's no denying the impact of his Koshien feats--I along with everyone else in Yokohama and Japan thrilled to them on television. But as a pro pitcher, I would say he was merely of superstar status, a little removed from iconic. Certainly I would say his fame and presence as a representative of Japanese baseball have grown immeasurably now, as compared to his status as a pitcher in his last couple of years in Japan. Even now, I guess many Japanese would consider Koshien to be the legendary highlight of his career--the true magic and drama of Koshien, the only baseball in Japan that can move even little girls and housewives with no interest in pro ball to cry.
As for Kuroda as a pro--a workmanlike star, who if he succeeds will demonstrate to Japanese fans the ability of the next level down of stars to compete on the Major League stage.
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