American expatriate baseball players in Japan have been a feature of the Japanese professional leagues since 1934. American expatriate players began to steadily find spots on Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) rosters in the 1960s. More than 600 Americans have played NPB, although very few last more than a single season in Japan.
Many of the most celebrated American expatriate players came to Japan after not finding success in the Major Leagues. Major League Baseball (MLB) players, scouts, and sabermetricians describe play in the NPB as "AAAA"; less competitive than in MLB, but more competitive than in AAA minor league baseball, which may explain the American expatriate players' success overseas. (see: "Big in Japan")
American players hold several NPB records, including highest career batting average (Leron Lee, .334), highest single season batting average (Randy Bass, .389), and the dubious record of most strikeouts in a season by a hitter (Ralph Bryant, 204). Americans rank #3 (Tuffy Rhodes, 55) and #5 (Randy Bass, 54) on the list of most home runs in a season, and #2 in single-season RBI (Bobby Rose, 153).
Since the 1970s, Americans have also made an impact in Nippon Professional Baseball's managing and coaching ranks, with Bobby Valentine and Trey Hillman managing their respective teams to Japan Series championships.
Gaijin waku and cultural differences For most of its history, NPB regulations imposed "gaijin waku", a limit on the number of non-Japanese people per team to two or three — including the manager and/or coaching staff."Foreign Player Restrictions?", JapaneseBaseball.com. Accessed March 12, 2015. Initially each team was allowed three foreign players; in 1963 this was reduced to two.Whiting, Robert. You Gotta Have Wa (Vintage Departures, 1989), p. 273. With enough service time, a non-Japanese player like Randy Messenger no longer counts against this limitation (with Messenger achieving that after nine seasons with the Hanshin Tigers).
In addition to the foreign culture, the language barrier, and loneliness, differences in the way the game is played in Japan are often challenges for American players. Japanese teams practice much more often than American teams, the game relies more on off-speed pitching and not as many fastballs, and team harmony is stressed over individual achievements. The American writer Robert Whiting wrote in his 1977 book The Chrysanthemum and the Bat that,
While others have objected to characterizing the sport that way, many Japanese players and managers describe themselves in these terms.
Perhaps because of these cultural differences, many expatriate baseball players don't last very long in NPB. Even star players often return home after five or six seasons. Of American expatriate baseball players in Japan, the longest tenures in NPB belong to Tuffy Rhodes (a total of 13 seasons in NPB), Wally Yonamine (12 seasons), Leron Lee (11 seasons), and Leon Lee, Greg Wells, and Randy Messenger (10 seasons each).
Recruitment and salaries There was a time when Japanese teams looked to recruit established Major League players on the downside of their careers. Now, however, Japanese teams scout American Triple-A games and monitor MLB transactions, looking for players being shuttled back and forth between the minors and the majors.Berry, Adam. "Challenge of playing in Japan can be worthwhile," MLB.com. Accessed March 15, 2015. A good majority of American players recruited to play in NPB are power hitters, which traditionally are in short supply in Japan."The Best Foreign Pitchers in the History of Japan's NPB," Burly's Baseball Musings (Oct. 6, 2014).
Although the average NPB salary is not comparable to MLB salaries, Japanese teams can offer much more money than a player can make in the American minor leagues.Dubberke, Tom. "What Do American Players Make in Japan?" BleacherReport (June 19, 2009). The typical American playing NPB has a higher base salary than his Japanese teammates, but his endorsement opportunities are much more limited. The Yomiuri Giants are particularly known for the high salaries they pay foreign players.
History
1930s and 1940s American Major League Baseball outfielder Lefty O'Doul was instrumental in spreading baseball's popularity in Japan, serving as the sport's "goodwill ambassador" in the mid-1930s, and again after World War II.
Japanese-American outfielder Fumito "Jimmy" Horio (who hailed from Hawaii) became the first American to play professional baseball in Japan when he joined the Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Kurabu (later known as the Tokyo Giants) in December 1934, touring with them in 1935. Dai Nippon was a team of all-stars organized by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki that matched up against a visiting American All-Star team that included Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer. Owner Shōriki survived an assassination attempt by right-wing nationalists for allowing foreigners (in this case, Americans) to play baseball in Jingu Stadium. He received a 16-inch-long scar from a broadsword during the assassination attempt."Matsutaro Shoriki: Japan's Citizen Kane," The Economist (Dec 22, 2012).
Harris McGalliard (known in Japan as "Bucky Harris"), Herbert "Buster" North, and James E. "Jimmy Bonna" Bonner became the first Americans to play in Japan's professional baseball league, when the Japanese Baseball League was formed in 1936. Bonner was the first African American to play baseball professionally in Japan, 11 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. "Bucky Harris" was the fall 1937 Japanese Baseball League Most Valuable Player, with a .310 batting average. Harris, North, and Bonner were joined by the Japanese-American players Kiyomi "Slim" Hirakawa, Kazuyoshi "George" Matsuura, Yoshio "Sam" Takahashi, and Tadashi Wakabayashi.
In October 1940, responding to rising hostility toward the West due to World War II, the league outlawed the use of English in Japanese baseball. Pitcher Tadashi Wakabayashi renounced his American citizenship in 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (so his achievements as the Japanese Baseball League Most Valuable Player in 1944 and 1947 "don't count" toward the accomplishments of American players). No Americans played in Japanese pro leagues from that point until after the war.
1950s Another Hawaiian, Wally Yonamine, was the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after World War II when he joined the Yomiuri Giants of the reorganized Japanese professional league, now known as Nippon Professional Baseball. A multi-skilled outfielder, Yonamine was a member of four Japan Series Championship teams, the Central League Most Valuable Player in 1957, a consecutive seven-time Best Nine Award winner (1952–58), an eleven-time All-Star, and a three-time batting champion. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, the only American yet admitted into the Hall as a player until Randy Bass was inducted in 2023.
Other than Yonamine, the first Americans to play NPB were African-American veterans of Negro league baseball.Zurui, "Negro Leaguers in Japan," BlackTokyo (September 12, 2008). The Hankyu Braves made a commitment to attracting these players, the first of whom were third-baseman John Britton and pitcher Jimmy Newberry, who both came to the Braves in 1952. Britton played for the Braves through the 1953 season, while Newberry left after one year. Infielder Larry Raines and pitcher Rufus Gaines joined Britton on the Braves in 1953. Gaines pitched well, recording 14 wins with a 2.53 ERA, but left after one season, while Raines stayed another year, winning the Pacific League batting title in 1954 with a .337 average.Albright, Jim. "All-Time Foreign-Born Team: Larry Raines," BaseballGuru.com. Accessed March 14, 2015.
In 1953, while serving in the military, former Boston Braves pitcher Phil Paine pitched in nine games for the Nishitetsu Lions, becoming the first former major leaguer to play in Nippon Professional Baseball. His first appearance occurred on August 23, 1953.Phil Paine chronology at Baseball Almanac
In 1954, the Mainichi Orions signed catcher Charlie Lewis and the Takahashi Unions signed catcher Sal Recca. Both men stayed in Japan for two seasons, with Lewis being a Best Nine Award-winner both years, and Recca slugging 33 home runs during his two NPB seasons."Sal Recca," Baseball-Reference.com, Accessed March 15, 2015.
Outfielder/first-baseman Jack Ladra joined the Toei Flyers in 1958. He became the first American (other than Yonamine) who seemed to really find a home in Japan, staying with the team until 1964."Jack Ladra," Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed March 15, 2015.
The Kintetsu Buffalo signed former pitcher Glenn Mickens and catcher Ron Bottler for the 1959 season. Mickens played for five years in Japan, compiling a record of 45–53 with a 2.54 ERA. Bottler played for the Buffalo for three seasons, gradually converting from catcher to starting pitcher, where he had more success.Ron Bottler," Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed March 15, 2015.
1960s In 1962, the Chunichi Dragons signed former Major League stars Don Newcombe and Larry Doby. Newcombe had been a pitcher in the Major Leagues, but played for the Dragons almost exclusively as an outfielder/first-baseman, hitting .262 with 12 home runs and 43 RBI;"Don Newcombe," Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed March 15, 2015. while Doby compiled modest numbers of a .225 batting average, 10 home runs, and 35 RBI.Larry Doby," Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed March 15, 2015. Newcombe and Doby each only played one NPB season before returning home to the U.S.
In 1964, Nankai Hawks ace Joe Stanka won 26 games to receive the Pacific League MVP award — the first American to win such an award. He pitched shutouts in Games 1, 6, and 7 of the 1964 Japan Series to win the Japan Series MVP award as well. That same year, fellow American pitcher Gene Bacque of the Hanshin Tigers compiled a 29–9 record with a 1.89 ERA, becoming the first non-Japanese player to receive the Eiji Sawamura Award. Bacque won Game 2 of the Japan Series that year, but lost Game 6 to Stanka 1–0.
Former Chicago Cubs major league ballplayer George Altman played professional baseball in Japan from 1968 through 1975, for the Lotte Orions and the Hanshin Tigers, where he had a .309 batting average with 205 home runs.
1970s In 1971 former Los Angeles Dodgers player Johnny Werhas played for the Taiyo Whales. In the first trade between a Japanese team and an American team, he was dealt to the San Diego Padres' Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Hawaii Islanders, for longtime Major League infielder Clete Boyer. Boyer played professionally in Japan for the Taiyō Whales from to . His roommate was Sadaharu Oh. After retiring in 1975, Boyer became the defensive coach for the Taiyō Whales in 1976.
In 1972 the Hiroshima Toyo Carp became the last team to hire their first non-Japanese player (excluding Japanese-Americans), when former American League MVP Zoilo Versalles joined the team.
Former league star Wally Yonamine became the first foreigner to be a manager in the NPB, when he took charge of the Chunichi Dragons from 1972 to 1977.
After a long successful Major League career, Joe Pepitone made an impression in a negative way. In 1973 he accepted an offer of $70,000 ($ today) a year to play for the Yakult Atoms. While in Japan, he hit .163 with one home run and two RBIs in 14 games played. Pepitone spent his days in Japan skipping games for claimed injuries only to be at night in discos, behavior which led the Japanese to adopt his name into their vernacular—as a word meaning "goof off."Markusen, Bruce. "Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Joe Pepitone", Hardball Times (May 31, 2013).