Before Shohei Ohtani shone into the world of MLB and brought immense pride to his home country of Japan and other names like Ichiro Matsuki and Hideo Nomo made it big, the first Japanese superstar to debut was in 1964 with the San Francisco Giants, Masanori Murakami.
Masanori Murakami arrived in the United States when he was only twenty years old. He was signed by the Nippon Professional League’s Nankai Hawks. Murakami had only played three games for the Hawks before being transferred as an “exchange student” to the Giants.
He spent the majority of his time with the Hawks in Japan’s minor leagues and was only called up to the majors at the end of their season. He and two other players were sent to the Giants in order to learn new skills that the Japanese could learn.
Murakami started off with the SF Giants’ single-A affiliated team, the Fresno Giants. His first game was in Southern California against the Santa Barbara Dodgers when he came in as a relief pitcher in the fifth inning and finished the game with zero hits. He became a fan favorite and started playing regular games for Fresno.
The then twenty-year-old Japanese was fondly called “Mashi” by his American teammates as they also held an American Japanese Day celebration about a month after his debut. In the California League, he posted an 11 – 7 record, 1.78 ERA, and 159 strikeouts in 106 innings. The San Francisco Giants noticed his talent and needed to make a strong playoff push, called him up to the majors.
In his first game in the MLB against the Mets at Shea Stadium, Murakami came in in the eighth inning and struck out three batters as he closed the innings after just one hit. Although the Giants wouldn’t make it to the playoffs, he finished the ’64 season with a solid stat line: 1 – 0, 1.80 ERA over 15 innings, and 15 strikeouts to 1 walk.
MLB’s tussle with the NPB for Murakami
Having delayed his call back from the Giants, the Nankai Hawks immediately asked the American team to return their young star. However, the Giants were reluctant to let go of their relief pitcher, who had been a solid addition to their team lineup. The final decision lay with NPB’s commissioner, Yashi Uchimura, who reached a compromise between both teams, allowing Murakami to play with San Francisco for another season before his return.
Murakami had a 4 – 1 record and a 3.75 ERA in 74.1 innings in 1965. He returned to Japan after 17 years in the majors, finishing with a 124-93 record and a 3.47 ERA in 1,893.2 innings. No Japanese will play in the Major League Baseball for another thirty years. Before signing with the Dodgers, Hideo Nomo would find a loophole in the MLB-NPB agreement.
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