Player Name: Hideo Nomo
Sets From: 1995 Bowman, Bowman’s Best, Collector’s choice, Emotion, Flair, Fleer Update, Fleer Update rookies, Leaf, Leaf Limited, Select, Select Certified,SP Championship, Stadium Club, Summit, UC3, Ultra Gold Medallion Rookies, Upper Deck, Upper Deck Special Edition, and Zenith
Card Numbers: 238, R83,547T, 144, 10, 175, 7, 267, 64, 251S, 98, 1,556, 141, 97, M17, 226, 168, and 149
Why are these cards a must have?: Everyone remember Nomo-mania in 1995? Cover of SI, cover of Beckett, Rookie of the Year, and 4th in Cy Young voting. He went 13-6/2.54/1.06 that season and won the hearts of Dodger fans and Japanese fans half way around the world. Unfortunately he never regained that season’s form, but still was an excellent pitcher throughout his career. He played for the Royals last season, only 3 appearances, and retired on July 17th last year. His career had it’s ups and downs, he had a no hitter in1996, and had 3 16 win seasons. But he also had some tough timesincluding going 6-12 in 1998 when he was traded from the Dodgers. Overall he had 1 All Star selection, and the ROY award. All time he is 11th in strikeouts / 9 innings and 76th in strikeouts. Although not a candidate for the Hall of Fame, he will always be a fan favorite and command high dollars for short printed cards and autographs.
On a scale of 1 – 10, how must have are these cards: 6, he’s definitely worth owning since he was the first Japanese player to come over to the USA. Like I said not a HOF guy, but his popularity will always be high. His cards book from $1 – $10 depending on the brand. Most cna be had on eBay for $1 – $5. Personally the Finest card is my favorite.
“6, he’s definitely worth owning since he was the first Japanese player to come over to the USA.”
Masanori Murakami was actually the first:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanori_Murakami
Update – from Wikipedia: “. . . He then exploited a loophole to free himself from his Japanese contract and became the first Japanese-born Japanese major leaguer to permanently relocate to Major League Baseball in the United States.”
Chipper Jones should have had the Rookie of the Year that year. I think the influx of Japanese players is great for the sport, but I don’t think they should be eligable for the RoY award if they played more than one full season in Japan (or any top level professional league) before coming here.
Japanese baseball is highly competative and just as good as MLB, to call these guys rookies is stretching it a bit.
Look at Ichiro, he played nine seasons in Japan, and was one of the best players in the league. When he came to America he was a seasoned veteran, he’d faced top level pitching for years. Granted the game is a bit different, but talent is talent and he has plenty of it… he’ll hit no matter where you put him.
He was certainly deserving of the MVP award in 2001, but he was no rookie.
Kazuhiro Sasaki won the RoY in 2000 with ten years of top level play in Japan.