Which baseball player was born in Osaka, Japan?

Hideo Nomo was born in Osaka, Japan. The right-handed pitcher began his professional career with Japan’s Kintetsu Buffaloes before moving to Major League Baseball in 1995.

Nomo became an international baseball sensation after joining the Los Angeles Dodgers. His unusual twisting delivery earned him the nickname “The Tornado,” and he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1995 after leading the league with 236 strikeouts.

His arrival was important beyond his statistics. Nomo became the first Japanese-born player to permanently relocate to MLB, helping open the door for later stars such as Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani. He also threw two MLB no-hitters, including the first no-hitter at Colorado’s Coors Field in 1996.

A common mix-up is Masanori Murakami, who was the first Japanese player to appear in MLB. Nomo was the pioneering Japanese player of the modern MLB era and the first to establish a long-term major-league career.