MLB and Japan Squabble Over 1st Japanese Player in Big Leagues
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It was 44 years ago today, February 17, 1965, that then MLB Commissioner Ford Frick squashed U.S.-Japan baseball relations over a dispute centering around lefthanded reliever Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player to ever don a Major League Baseball uniform.
The story dates back to February 23, 1964 as Baseball Library recalls that the San Francisco Giants signed the first 3 Japanese players to ever play for American teams when Murakami, 3rd baseman Tatsuhico Tanaka‚ and catcher Hiroshi Takahashi were signed to play for the Giants’ affiliate Magic Valley Cowboys in the Pioneer League. Murakami was the only one to make the Majors as the latter two apparently languished in the minors.
Baseball Library also recalls:
Murakami…. was successful in limited use as a reliever for the Giants, but his U.S. career was cut short when the Japanese government, afraid that its country’s teams would be decimated should others follow Murakami’s path, demanded that he be returned….
His unique status made Murakami the focus of outlandish expectations on the resumption of his Japanese career. The tremendous pressure affected his performance at first. Although he eventually settled down, he never became the superstar that the public expected.
In his short stint in the Majors over the 1964 and 1965 seasons with the Giants, Murakami appeared in 54 games, pitched 89 1/3 innings, won 5 games while dropping 1. He recorded 9 career saves and recorded a 3.43 lifetime ERA. Murakami recorded 100 strikeouts while walking 23 and was reached 10 times for homers for his abbreviated MLB career.
Years later, it has become commonplace for Japanese stars to sign MLB contracts. Among the most prominent of the current crop of Japanese stars in the Major leagues are Boston’s 3rd year starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, their lefthanded reliever Hideki Okajima, Yankees’ starter Chien-Ming Wang and Chicago Cubs’ outfielder Kosuke Fukudome.
In 2007, 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi subbed for an injured Chase Utley for the Phillies. In 2008, So Taguchi, now with the Cubs, was a sometimes late-inning defensive replacement for Pat Burrell in leftfield. And in 2009, pitcher Chan Ho Park is contesting with 3 other Phillies pitchers for the coveted 5th starter role in the Phils’ pitching rotation.
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