- 5 months ago
It's September 17, 1996. We're about to watch (maybe) the final out of a regular season game between the Dodgers and Rockies. But it's more than that: That final out would cement a no-hitter. But it's more than that, too! It'd be a no-hitter at Coors Field, the brand-new, thin-air ballpark in Denver, Colorado. You're not supposed to be able to throw a no-hitter there. But guess what, it's more than that, too! This no-hitter would be thrown by Hideo Nomo, a pitcher born, raised, and previously playing professional baseball in Japan. Here in 1996, all of the above is astounding. Before we watch this final out, we need to learn about baseball a mile above sea level. We need to learn about the fascinating history of pro baseball in Japan and its relationship with MLB. And of course, we need to learn about Nomo's role, alongside his pioneering agent, in changing that relationship forever. We need to rewind.
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00:00It's September 17th, 1996.
00:03We're in Denver, Colorado, where something impossible might be about to happen.
00:08The LA Dodgers are one out away from beating the Rockies,
00:12but it wouldn't just be a win, it would be a no-hitter.
00:15And it wouldn't just be any no-hitter, it would be a no-hitter here, by him.
00:21Let's rewind.
00:27So let's start with the where.
00:30The Colorado Rockies have existed since 1993.
00:34This stadium of theirs, Coors Field, opened in 1995, last year.
00:40And it is distinct from every other ballpark in one very important way, altitude.
00:46Home plate here sits about a mile above sea level.
00:50This high up, a batted ball meets significantly less air resistance
00:53and tends to travel farther faster.
00:56Case in point, in its inaugural season,
00:59Coors Field hosted 1,637 hits.
01:03That's over 11 hits per team per game.
01:07No other park cracked even 1,500 hits last year.
01:11Fans here watched 241 home runs leave the field of play in 1995.
01:15The second highest total was Tiger Stadium with 185 homers.
01:21This place is a hitter's paradise and, of course, defensive hell.
01:26It's been a whole thing, of course.
01:29Pitchers freaking out.
01:31Newspaper columnists aghast at what's become of their beloved low-scoring pastime.
01:36Even people suggesting the league should use special baseballs just for this ballpark.
01:42Never mind that the Marlins pulled off a one-hitter here almost exactly a year ago.
01:47This park is, to a lot of observers, a problem.
01:51That's just too much hitting.
01:52The Rockies, meanwhile, get to slash have to play 50% of their games in this warped, hitter-friendly physics engine.
02:01So they decided to lean into it.
02:03Last season, Larry Walker joined Dante Bichette and Andres Galarraga in the middle of a lineup people came to call the Blake Street Bombers.
02:11Even with Walker Hurt and Bichette regressing slightly here in 96, Colorado boasts plenty of firepower.
02:18Galarraga has had a career rebirth in Colorado, Vinny Castilla broke out as an all-star last year, and Eric Young did the same this year.
02:27The Dodgers pitching staff knows what these fellas are capable of.
02:31In their last trip to Coors Field, L.A. gave up 52 runs in four games.
02:35On June 29th, they very nearly blew a 13-run lead because the Rockies got so hot in the later innings.
02:44This was soon after Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda retired to recover from a heart attack,
02:49and Dodgers players joked that their new manager, Bill Russell, might have to take Lasorda's spot in the hospital.
02:55The next day, the Dodgers lost another game at Coors Field, 16-15.
03:00This is baseball in Colorado.
03:02Tonight, the Rockies have threatened, they just haven't missed a glove yet.
03:07Galarraga's sharp grounder looked like a hit until Greg Gagne laid out to snare it,
03:12then threw to second off his hip for the fielder's choice.
03:15Castilla's deep fly ball looked like a homer until Raul Mondesi calmly collected it at the base of the wall.
03:23So that's 26 outs, no hits.
03:26Still, Colorado's last chance might be their best chance.
03:30Ellis Burks has always been solid, but this year he's been one of the best hitters in all of baseball.
03:36Dude just turned 32 and he's a legit MVP candidate.
03:40Get Burks out? Not an easy proposition.
03:42And the Dodgers will make history by recording the first no-hitter ever at Coors Field.
03:48But that is just one of the reasons this moment is special.
03:51The other reason was emphasized a few moments ago, when KTLA briefly threw to an alternate broadcast.
04:03Yes, we've got Japanese announcers here broadcasting this game back to Tokyo because this is a huge moment for Japanese baseball.
04:12Japan has been a baseball hotbed ever since the Unequal Treaties allowed the United States a trading foothold at multiple Japanese ports.
04:30Japan had its own professional baseball leagues since well before World War II,
04:34and the existing major league, Nippon Professional Baseball, has been playing since 1950.
04:40Nobody thought too hard about the relationship between NPB and MLB until the early 1960s.
04:46That's when Murakami, the man in the announcers booth today,
04:49left his Japanese team as part of an exchange program with the San Francisco Giants organization.
04:55Murakami was the standout of the exchange group,
04:57turning heads pitching for the Fresno Giants during the 1964 minor league season.
05:02And, on September 1st of that year, he made history.
05:06Murakami earned a call-up from the big league San Francisco Giants
05:09and became the first-ever Japanese player to participate in an MLB game.
05:14He pitched one inning, gave up one hit, and struck out two.
05:17Murakami pitched in eight more games for the Giants that season,
05:21performing well enough that San Francisco was like,
05:24you know what? We'd actually like to keep him.
05:26This created a pretty major conflict between MLB and NPB,
05:30which reached two resolutions.
05:33Resolution number one was that Murakami could play just one more season in the U.S.
05:37Resolution number two, and that is it.
05:40For everyone, forever.
05:42Murakami pitched one more season for the 1965 Giants.
05:4645 games, one start, pretty nice numbers.
05:49Then he returned to his Japanese club for the 1966 season,
05:52and he, along with the rest of his countrymen, did not look back.
05:56MLB and NPB hammered out the United States Japanese Player Contract Agreement,
06:01which more or less ended any exchange of pro baseball players between the U.S. and Japan.
06:06Decades passed without a single other Japanese-born player suiting up for an MLB team,
06:12even though plenty were good enough.
06:14One guy who played some baseball in Japan,
06:16although he was never MLB material,
06:19was Don Nomura.
06:20Here's Don these days.
06:22Don was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father.
06:26His mother remarried with Katya Nomura,
06:29a legendary NPB catcher who became a legendary NPB manager.
06:34Don made some attempt to follow in his stepfather's footsteps,
06:37taking his last name,
06:39playing college baseball in the United States,
06:41then returning to Japan to play minor league ball.
06:43Don's playing career didn't amount to much,
06:46but entering this decade,
06:47Nomura found a foothold in the business of baseball.
06:50He purchased steak in the Salinas Spurs of the California League,
06:54then used his connections to NPB to offer the Spurs
06:57as a sort of experimental overseas farm system for Japanese prospects,
07:02generally guys who seemed like they needed some extra attention.
07:06He hired a Japanese manager
07:07and even sold Japanese specialties at the concession stand.
07:11One of those imported Japanese players on the Spurs,
07:14by the way,
07:14was Max Suzuki,
07:15who debuted for the Seattle Mariners just a few months ago.
07:19Perhaps you see where this is going.
07:20Nomura moved gradually from team ownership to player management
07:24with one eye on Japan.
07:26He connected with sports super agent Arn Tellem,
07:29who studied the longstanding working agreement between the two leagues
07:32and found a loophole.
07:34If a Japanese player declared voluntary retirement from his NPB team,
07:40the league could not stop him from crossing over to MLB.
07:43This realization became public knowledge about two years ago
07:46and it made a lot of people very angry,
07:49but they could not deny the loophole.
07:51So Nomura got to work.
07:53Here in 1996,
07:54we are just beginning to see the fruits of Don Nomura's agency.
07:58Who knows the future of Japanese baseball players in MLB,
08:02but it feels like we are witnessing the dawn of something.
08:06For now,
08:06this is all still a novelty.
08:08Fans in Japan,
08:09where it is currently tomorrow morning,
08:11are locked in on this moment
08:12because this isn't just a potential no-hitter at Coors Field,
08:16it's a no-hitter at Coors Field by a Japanese MLB pitcher.
08:22But wait,
08:23one might ask,
08:24you already mentioned Max Suzuki plays for the Mariners,
08:27and I only know of one other Japanese pitcher in the U.S.,
08:29and that sure doesn't look like Hideo Nomo.
08:32Indeed,
08:33this is not Hideo Nomo's typical windup,
08:35but that is him.
08:37It's a wet, rainy night here in Denver,
08:39which probably explains some of those hard-hit balls dying in the outfield
08:43and also explains why one of the most dynamic pitchers
08:47with one of the most distinctive windups in baseball
08:49has been pitching from the stretch since about the fourth inning.
08:54Let's talk about Hideo Nomo.
08:56When Don Nomura hatched his plan to extract Japanese talent via loophole,
09:01he still needed to find players who were bold enough,
09:04willing enough to ruffle feathers,
09:06confident enough in their own abilities to take that risk with him.
09:09Good timing,
09:10because one of the best pitchers Japan had ever produced
09:13was still in his prime,
09:15but increasingly fed up with his professional situation.
09:18This photo, by the way,
09:19is actually him on the set of Space Jam,
09:21but I'm not going to show you that context
09:23because it would be distracted.
09:24Okay, fine, I'll show you.
09:26See?
09:27You forgot what we were talking about.
09:29Anyway, Hideo Nomo's story to this point is one of control.
09:33First, control of a baseball.
09:35A young Nomo concocted what most people would call
09:38a tornado-style windup,
09:40fully rotating his body to hide the ball and generate momentum.
09:44Explosive as his pitches were,
09:46coaches didn't love the unorthodox form,
09:48and his early career was waylaid by worries about his control.
09:52As Nomo grew,
09:54perfected that strange windup,
09:56and developed a devastating forkball to complement his fastball,
09:59he finally graduated from Japan's Industrial League
10:02to the 1989 NPB draft,
10:05which made him a member of the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
10:08They promised not to mess with his peculiar but deadly form.
10:12Nomo turned the heads of American scouts
10:14at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul,
10:16and again in 1990,
10:18when a Japanese all-star team
10:19destroyed a bunch of American major leaguers
10:22in an exhibition series.
10:23No less than Randy Johnson pulled Nomo aside
10:26and told him he was more than good enough to pitch in MLB.
10:29Not long after Nomo's breakout as an NPB star,
10:32he raised small flags of rebellion.
10:34He broke the league's exclusive sneaker contract.
10:38He insisted on taking rest days
10:40to preserve an aching arm,
10:41a habit he'd learned from observing Nolan Ryan,
10:44but one that irritated his super demanding manager.
10:47Nomo had his eye on MLB,
10:49but no recourse whatsoever to get out of his NPB contracts,
10:53until Don Nomura showed up
10:55wielding knowledge of a loophole in that very contract.
10:58Nomo got his way out of Japan
11:00and became a Los Angeles Dodger,
11:02infuriating some back home.
11:04They called Nomo a traitor,
11:06they said he wasn't even good anymore anyway.
11:08Nomura, too, felt the backlash.
11:12Well, after a brief stint in the minors during the strike,
11:15Nomo became the first Japanese player
11:17since Masanori Murakami to play for an MLB team.
11:21And that rookie season went quite well.
11:24The dizzying windup,
11:26the famous combo of blazing fastball
11:28and befuddling forkball,
11:29it's all been just as effective in the US
11:32as it was in Japan.
11:33Nomo led the NL in strikeouts,
11:36tied Greg Maddox for the league lead
11:38with three complete game shutouts,
11:40and earned himself both All-Star
11:42and Rookie of the Year honors in 1995.
11:45Even as the league has grown more accustomed
11:47to Nomo's delivery this season,
11:50he has kept his numbers strong
11:51and should receive real consideration
11:53for the Cy Young Award.
11:55Here in the US,
11:56Hideo has stirred up Nomo mania,
11:58injecting excitement back into a league
12:01that desperately needs some after that long player strike.
12:04And Nomo mania abounds back in Japan, too.
12:08All that animus toward Hideo has given way
12:10to intense pride in watching an NPB superstar
12:14prove himself just as fearsome
12:15against the world's foremost competition.
12:18Randy Johnson was right.
12:20Hideo Nomo belongs here.
12:22In the majors, I mean.
12:24Not necessarily here, here.
12:26No pitcher really belongs at Coors Field.
12:28Before today, these were Hideo Nomo's numbers
12:31at Coors Field,
12:32including that 16-15 loss back in June.
12:35This gives a nice little snapshot
12:36of what altitude does to a bat at baseball.
12:39Matter of fact, Hideo himself got an RBI single today.
12:42This is a hitter's ballpark
12:44even when you're not a hitter by trade.
12:46In short, none of this seems possible.
12:51Japanese players, until recently,
12:53did not play Major League Baseball.
12:54But now Hideo Nomo is doing that,
12:57and he's doing it quite well.
12:58And he's probably just the tip of an oncoming iceberg.
13:02Pitchers don't throw no-hitters
13:03against the hard-hitting Rockies
13:04at mile-high Coors Field,
13:06but now Hideo Nomo is one out away
13:08from checking that off his list as well.
13:11Either he makes history,
13:13or Ellis Burks adds yet another accomplishment
13:15to his excellent offensive season.
13:17Let's join fans in Los Angeles, Tokyo,
13:21and all over the world
13:22in watching what happens next.
13:25Welcome to a moment in history.
13:27Hideo Nomo has done what they said
13:36could not be done.
13:38Not in the mile-high city,
13:41not at Coors Field in Denver.
13:43He has not only shut out the Rockies,
13:46he has pitched a no-hitter,
13:48and thank goodness they saw it in Japan.
13:52I don't know.
14:01How did I get that?
14:03Jose Stewart
14:03Let's go.
14:04Let's go.
14:05How did I get this?
14:06How was he
14:07How would I get this?
14:11You know?
14:11How did I get this?
14:13I'm finished.
14:14I was really Come back.
14:15How did I get this?
14:16How did I get it?
14:17How did I get this?
14:17How did I get it?
14:18How did I get that?
14:20I got it.
14:21How did I get it?
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