Japanese b-ball players in the U.S.

My lunch hour is almost up, so I'll jot down a few of the bigger names and reasons:

• Nomo (Boston) - went to "pursue his dream" and to get away from the tyranical management he was under with Kintetsu.


• Irabu (Monreal?) - allegedly "recruited" by a New York Yankee scout (which would have been tampering). Went to "pursue his dream" and to get away from the tyranical Hirooka GM. (You can find a lot on this in my old archives.)
  
• Yoshii (Colorado? I don't keep very good track of players in the MLB myself) - wanted to challenge himself at a higher level.


• "Mac" Suzuki (???) - left Japan after high school to pursue a Big League career from the ground up. Started in the minors before Nomo crosses the Pacific.


• Sasaki (Seatle) - had accomplished everything a closer can do in Japan, and then some. Wanted to "pursue his dream" and "challenge at a higher level."


• Ichiro (Seatle) - had accomplished everything a batter can do in Japan (well, with moderate power that is), and wanted to challenge at a higher level.


• Shinjo (New York Mets) - was the crown prince of Osaka, but decided to challenge himself for less money than be a super-star in Japan. I had my doubts that Shinjo was MLB stuff, but he's doing a great job of proving me wrong. His challenging in the Majors has made me reevaluate him.


• Ohka (Boston) - I think he was dropped from the BayStars a few years back, so he decided to give the Majors (through the Minors) a try at a second career. I'm glad to see he's doing well.

My lunch hour is over, and then some. I know I didn't get all of them, but this is a start.

By the way, I'd love to see your paper when it's done. Could you post it here? Thanks.

Dear Amylia-san,

>were they recriuted, how are they playing, why did they come, who are they,ect.....

Let me tell you about why they were only 1 Japanese in the Majors before 1994. Unlike the other baseball crazed countries like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Korea etc., Japan has a very successfull professional baseball league. The players are very well payed and didn't have much financial incentive to come to the U.S. Also, the goal of the Japanese Pro-Baseball which was created in 1934 was to become equals to that of the Major League. To become a successful league, they have to protect the players. Also, culturally, Japanese people do not tend to break away from the group they belong. Once they break away from Japan, they will become an outcast. Harmony is the keyword. Therefore until about 10 years ago, Japanese ball players did't have any say. Although the union existed, it was really a non-entity. They had no FREE AGENCY until less than 10 years ago. Therefore the players were bound to the contract with the company they play for. They were essentially a Salary-man working for a company. Until Nomo crossed the line in 1995.

The guy who played in the Majors before 1995 was a pitcher named Massy Murakami who played for SF Giants in the 60's. He came to the US as basically an "trainee" from the Nankai Hawks in Japan during the spring training. Amazingly he was promoted to the Majors by the Giants and was quite successful (4-1) and ERA below 3.00 I believe. This really upset the Nankai Hawks management in Japan. After that year, US and Japanese baseball signed a treaty that they would not tamper with the players who has a contract with certain team. That agreement virtually shutdown the flow of players from Japan to the US.

After that year, US and Japanese baseball signed a treaty that they would not tamper with the players who has a contract with certain team. That agreement virtually shutdown the flow of players from Japan to the US.

FYI, that understanding no longer exists, so all free agents are fair game -- e.g. any MLB team can sign Terahara -- even if he's drafted by a NPB club. Likewise, Mark Prior could've headed to Japan if he hadn't've reached an agreement with the Cubs, who drafted him last June.

All players and what team they are on plus some interesting statistics. Hope this helps.
Nomo - Boston Red Sox leading American League in strike outs.
Irabu - cut by Montreal Expos out of baseball.
Yoshii - Montreal Expos hurt most of year.
Ohka - Montreal Expos in and out of minors and majors this year.
Ichiro Suzuki - Seattle Mariners leading American League in batting average and second in stolen bases.
Mac Suzuki - Milwaukee Brewers having a bad year.
Shinjo - New York Mets batting .267 and helping his team in the National League playoff hunt.
Sasaki - second in American League in saves and on best team in the majors.

I hope this helped you.