SN Archive (1995): MLB reacts to Hideo Nomo's debut, the tornado windup and 'Nomomania' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Three decades before Shohei Ohtani's arrival ushered in a new era, 'Nomomania' captivated the baseball world. This article, 'Rising Son' by Gordon Verrell, originally appeared in the May 15, 1995 issue of The Sporting News.
Peter Magowan was as curious as anyone about how Hideo Nomo would handle it.
Magowan is the owner of the same Giants club that had put Masanori Murakami on the mound in 1964-65, the only other time a Japanese-born player appeared in the majors. When Nomo held the Giants to one hit in five shutout innings in his historic debut last week, it was clear to Magowan that the Dodgers have an answer to the sweeping fan malaise.
“Absolutely, I think he's going to be a draw,” Magowan says. “Maybe not the way Fernando (Valenzuela) was, but he's definitely going be a draw. Not just because he's Japanese, but because he's got such a unique and colorful way of pitching that it's going to draw attention. People will see him on TV and want to see him in person.”
Nomo, 26, looked very much like a major league pitcher in his first week, at least in terms of results.
He showed the fascinated Giants why he had averaged just under nine strikeouts a game and won 18, 17, 18 and 17 games his first four seasons in the Pacific League. Nomo's fastball against the Giants was clocked at between 89 and 92 mph, and he showed them an effective forkball and occasional curve.
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In his follow-up start Sunday at Colorado, Nomo also looked like most other major league pitchers. Facing a potent Rockies lineup and light air, he was battered for seven runs on nine hits (three homers) in 4 innings of a no-decision.
The tornado warnings around Denver just before the start of Sunday's game were fitting for a pitcher known in Japan as The Tornado. He was called that because of his pitching mechanics, which are reminiscent of Luis Tiant and Gene Garber.
At the top of his delivery, his arms extend high above his head. His back is arched. Then he suddenly coils, his back turned toward the plate, his left foot pointing toward second base, his eyes directed away from the batter. “When he starts his delivery to the plate,” Giants slugger Matt Williams says, “that's when you set your timing. Everything else is insignificant.”
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If Nomo has half the success that Valenzuela had as a rookie in 1981, then perhaps some degree of Nomomania will break out at Dodger Stadium. That's why Dodgers President Peter O'Malley gave Nomo a $2-million signing bonus in February, continuing a tradition in the O'Malley family. Walter, the Dodgers' former owner, used to preach about international baseball, several times taking his teams on postseason goodwill tours of Japan, even going so far as to suggest that one day there would be a true World Series.
Peter has played an active role in helping to develop baseball in China, Korea, Nicaragua and Australia, among other lands, and the Dodgers' starting rotation is a testament to that international approach. Tom Candiotti is the only U.S.-born member of a rotation that includes two Dominicans (Pedro Astacio and Ramon Martinez), a Mexican (Ismael Valdez) and Nomo.
Candiotti is used to having a unique perspective — he is the only surviving established knuckleballer — but even he can't imagine what Nomo is going through.
“Think about what he's doing,” Candiotti says. “He's out here with all these Japanese news people chasing after him all spring, he can't speak the (English) language, he's trying to become a part of the team, he's representing an entire country, everyone's counting on him ... well, I just told him, through his interpreter, to go out there and give it his best, that he's got the respect of everyone here.”
He certainly had the respect of the Giants. “He's everything they built him up to be,” says their manager, Dusty Baker. “He had the advantage of scouting reports on our hitters, but he's got good enough stuff to get people out the second and third time around."
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