Farewell, Nomo

He's my favorite player. A great artist of the mound!

Take care, Hideo! :'(

Ichiro, Daisuke, Matsui, Kuroda, Wang, Park, those who came and returend in the past, and those who are coming in the future should all thank Nomo, not only for opening the gate to the Bigs for fellow Asian baseball players, but more significantly for proving good Asian players can also play at the MLB levels.

A true pioneer with amazing willpower that never wavered, and of course the eye catching tornado delivery and many magical moments (no hitters in both leagues, one at Colorado no less) and seasons (had a resurgence with the Dodgers his second time around earlier this century) on both sides of the Pacific. Otsukaresamadeshita.

- Ichiro, Daisuke, Matsui, Kuroda, Wang, Park, those who came and returend in the past, and those who are coming in the future should all thank Nomo, not only for opening the gate to the Bigs for fellow Asian baseball players, but more significantly for proving good Asian players can also play at the MLB levels.

Other than Park, who pitched for the Dodgers before Nomo, yes, absolutely yes. Nomo single-handedly changed the perception of big stars from "lower-level" leagues.

Until Nomo's arrival, the idea was that because good Triple-A hitters could have big careers in Japan, the best players had to be Triple-A level. Japan is lower level, not because the stars are weaker, but because the worst players in the CL and PL are worse than the worst players in the NL and AL.

When Hideki Irabu came to the Yankees, Reggie Jackson scoffed because the league Irabu came from didn't have any Albert Belles or Barry Bonds. One could have countered that by saying the AL didn't (then) have Ichiro Suzuki, either.

Mind you, it wasn't just Major League minds that were changed. The flood of players going to the Majors is largely a result of the Japanese system's belief that Japanese players were not good enough.

When the Yomiuri Giants created free agency after the 1993 season, no one dreamed it would allow for the exodus of stars to the MLB.

The first foul ball I ever got from a Major League game was on September 8, 1999 at County Stadium in Milwaukee. Hideo Nomo pitched it and Steve Finley fouled it off to me. So I have a ball that Hideo Nomo once pitched. The next year in spring training, I got Steve Finley to autograph it since he hit it.