Quote:
Originally Posted by packs
Nomo was good for a year or two but I think it's hard to argue that he paved the way for Japanese players. He was forgotten almost as soon as he got here but I'm also not sure that was totally his fault. A number of average, bad or forgettable pitchers came over after him and I would say watered down the excitement from Japan. These would include:
Hideki Irabu; Shigetoshi Hasegawa; Masato Yoshii; Tomo Ohka, etc.
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You have to consider it from the Japanese perspective too though. Until Nomo NPB teams had a stranglehold on their players and nobody even considered going to MLB. The whole system by which Japanese players come to MLB was established as a result f him.
In Japan, Nomo is still a household name. He was massively famous here before he went to MLB and still is, everyone knows that he is the guy who paved the way.
Ichiro is also a special case because he was the first hitter to come over, and have aHOF career in MLB. But Nomo in Japan is well known as the guy who kicked it off (for better or worse, not all fans here like seeing the best players go to MLB, though most are OK with it).