American expatriate baseball players in Japan

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.
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. Initially each team was allowed three foreign players; in 1963 this was reduced to two. 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).
There was 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. A good majority of American players recruited to play in NPB are power hitters, which traditionally are in short supply in Japan.
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. 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.
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.
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 African-American, thus beating Jackie Robinson to professional baseball 11 years before Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers.) "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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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; while Doby compiled modest numbers of a .225 batting average, 10 home runs, and 35 RBI. 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.
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 1972 to 1975. 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 ($495,825 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."
In 1974, the 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) MLB home run slugger Frank Howard joined the Taiheiyo Club Lions at age 37. In his first regular season at bat he hurt his back on a swing, and never played again, eventually retiring.
In 1974, Clarence Jones of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes hit 38 home runs, becoming the first foreign player to win a home run title in Nippon Professional Baseball. He led the Pacific League again with 36 home runs in 1976.
In 1975, Joe Lutz became the first Caucasian to manage a team in Japanese professional baseball. After being hired by the Hiroshima Carp in 1974 as a batting instructor, the following season, Lutz was selected to manage the Carp. Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn was hired to serve as the team's temporary pitching coach, after having worked together with Lutz on the Cleveland Indians' coaching staff. As manager, Lutz had the team change the colors of its caps to red to represent the team's fighting spirit. Unfortunately, Lutz only lasted as Carp manager for 15 games, leaving the team due to an umpiring dispute (although the Carp went on to win its first-ever Central League championship under replacement manager Takeshi Koba).
Famed manager Leo Durocher was hired as manager of the Taiheiyo Club Lions in 1976, but he retired due to illness (hepatitis) before the beginning of the season.
Willie Davis 2 time Allstar with 17 seasons in MLB signed with the Chunichi Dragons after the 1976 MLB season and became one of the most famous American players to ever come to Japan. Willie a 3 time Gold Glove winner for the Dodgers in 1971-72-73 for his Centerfield Defense had 2547 hits upon arrival in the Land of the Rising Sun. In 1977 he won the Pacific League player of the month for June but got hurt in early July and with less than 300 ABs he hit 25 HR’s and batted over .300 for 1977. He also had a fine 1978 with the Crown Lighter Lions before coming back to the Majors to finish his career with the Angels in 1979. Davis over 2 seasons in Japan hit 43 HR’s and batted .300.
Leron Lee played for the Lotte Orions from 1977–1987. He led the league in home runs and runs batted in his first season, and won the batting title in 1980. In 1978, he invited younger brother Leon Lee to play in Japan, and the brothers formed a feared power-hitting duo for the Orions. The African American sidekick role in the 1992 film Mr. Baseball (played by actor Dennis Haysbert) is believed to be based on the experiences of several African American players in Japan, including the Lee brothers.
In 1979 Charlie Manuel led the Kintetsu Buffaloes to their first pennant win, hitting .324 with 37 home runs and 94 RBI, winning the home run title and the Pacific League Most Valuable Player award — the first American to receive the league MVP honor since 1964. Wildly popular for his tenacious style of play and his power-hitting abilities, Manuel was dubbed "Aka-Oni" (The Red Devil) by fans and teammates.
1984 was a turning point for foreign players in NPB. Three American players — Jim Tracy, Don Money, and Richard Duran — all quit their teams in the early part of the 1984 season and went back to the United States — leaving their respective teams in the lurch. The NPB commissioner at the time, Takezo Shimoda, called the American players "spoiled," and proposed banning non-Japanese players from the NPB. A number of other American players enjoyed stellar 1984 campaigns, however, and the threat never was carried out. For instance, Hankyu Braves first-basemen Greg "Boomer" Wells hit .355 in 1984, with 37 home runs and 130 runs batted in, winning the NPB Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player award. He was the first non-Japanese winner of the Triple Crown.
In 1984, at 30 years old, Warren Cromartie became the first, and perhaps the most prominent, American player still in his prime to sign with a Japanese baseball team when he joined the Yomiuri Giants before the 1984 NPB season. In 1989, Cromartie batted .378 with 15 home runs and 78 RBIs to be named MVP of the Central League, and lead his team to the Japan Series championship. In the deciding game of the series with the Kintetsu Buffaloes, Cromartie doubled in the fourth inning to ignite a three-run rally and homered in the seventh.
First-basemen Randy Bass is often credited for single-handedly turning around the fortunes of the Hanshin Tigers, which resulted in the team's run and eventual victory of the Japan Series in 1985. Winning the 1985 Most Valuable Player award, he also won four consecutive league batting titles; in 1986, he nearly became the first player in Japan to bat .400, finishing the season with a .389 average, a record that still stands. Bass won consecutive batting Triple Crowns (1985 and 1986). In 1985, he was on a pace to break Sadaharu Oh's record of 55 home runs in a single season, but fell short by one, because in the last game of the season the pitcher from Oh's Yomiuri Giants threw only intentional walks (allegedly to prevent the Westerner from breaking Oh's record). In Japan, his spectacular performance is a legend, and among Tigers fans he is nearly deified, being jokingly referred in conjunction with God and Buddha, "Kami-sama (God), Hotoke-sama (Buddha), Baasu-sama (Bass)" (sama is an honorary variation of "san", similar to "Sir" or "His holiness").
Kintetsu Buffaloes outfielder Ralph Bryant was one of the best left-handed power hitters in Japanese baseball history. In 1989, Bryant hit 49 home runs to lead the Buffaloes to their third Pacific League championship. He won the season MVP award that year, and also tied Sadaharu Oh's career record for hitting three home runs in a game five times. He also struck out countless times, and holds the top four spots on the single-season strikeout records in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Following a brief Major League career, outfielder Alonzo Powell played for seven seasons in Japan. He was just the third player in Central League history, and the first foreign player, to win three straight batting titles, hitting .324, .355, and .340 from 1994 to 1996. He was also a two-time Central League All-Star.
In 1995, Tokyo Swallows third-baseman Tom O'Malley hit .307 with 31 home runs and 87 RBIs. The Swallows won the Japan Series that year, and O'Malley was awarded both the season MVP award and the Japan Series MVP award. He hit .300 for six seasons in a row, a record among non-Japanese players in the Japanese professional leagues.
Yokohama BayStars second-basemen Bobby Rose is remembered as one of the best foreign players in Japanese baseball. Rose hit over .300 for seven of his eight seasons in Japan. He also hit three cycles during his career, the most in Japanese baseball history. Rose had his best season in 1999, hitting 37 home runs with 153 RBIs and a .369 batting average. This remains the highest batting average in Japanese baseball among right-handed hitters, and his 153 RBIs ranks second-most in Japanese baseball history. He also led the league with 192 hits, which was a Central League season record. He led the league in hits for the second straight season in 2000, and had the second highest batting average in the Central League.
Tuffy Rhodes played thirteen years in NPB; he is the all-time home run leader for foreign-born players — and tied for 11th overall — with 474 homers in Japan. In the 2001 season, he hit his 55th homer to tie Sadaharu Oh's Japanese League single season home run record, set in 1964. For the rest of the season, opposing pitchers intentionally walked Rhodes to prevent him from breaking Oh's record. (The following year, Alex Cabrera tied the record.) Rhodes' long career in NPB earned him free agency, in which he was treated as a "Japanese Player" and not bound to the restrictions of foreign players. Only three other non-Japanese players (Tai-Yuan Kuo, Alex Ramírez, and Alex Cabrera) have achieved such a classification in NPB history.
In April 2003, former NPB hitting star Leron Lee was promoted to manager, becoming the first African-American manager in Japanese baseball history. On May 17, 2003, the BlueWave faced the Nippon Ham Fighters, managed by Trey Hillman, for a battle between two American managers in Japan for the first time in 28 years (when Wally Yonamine's Chunichi Dragons faced Joe Lutz' Hiroshima Carp).
In 2005, Yomiuri Giants closer Marc Kroon set the record for the fastest pitch ever in Japanese baseball, at 161 km/h (100 mph). In 2008, he broke his own record of pitching to 162 km/h (101 mph).
In 2005, Chiba Lotte manager Bobby Valentine led the Marines to their first Pacific League pennant in 31 years after emerging victorious in a close playoff with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The Marines won the Japan Series in a four-game sweep of the Hanshin Tigers. Following their Japan Series championship, the Marines won the inaugural Asia Series by defeating the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization in November 2005. For his efforts, Valentine was awarded the Golden Spirit Award and the Matsutaro Shoriki Award — both firsts for a non-Japanese individual.
Trey Hillman's Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters won the Pacific League championship in 2006, and returned to defend their title in 2007. It was the first pennant for the franchise in 25 years when they won the championship in 2006, and the repeated success in 2007 was accomplished despite the loss of key players such as Michihiro Ogasawara and Hideki Okajima. His team won the Japan Series and Asia Series in 2006. The team set a franchise-record 14-game winning streak during the 2007 season. Following the example of Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine, Hillman showed his appreciation towards fans by speaking in broken Japanese sentences. After the game in which the Fighters won the pennant in 2006, he shouted "Shinjirarenai!", the Japanese phrase stands for "Unbelievable", to the fans gathered in Sapporo Dome. He repeated the phrase after winning the Nippon Series, and repeated it again after winning the Asia Championship. Like the Boston Red Sox's "The Impossible Dream", Hillman's "Shinjirarenai" became the most popular term describing the Fighters' success in 2006. On October 19, 2007, Hillman signed a multi-year contract to manage the Kansas City Royals. He was the first Major League Baseball manager to be hired based on his Japanese baseball record.
In 2010, with 214 hits, outfielder Matt Murton of the Hanshin Tigers broke the NPB single-season hit record, and became only the fourth player in Nippon Professional Baseball history to have a 200-hit season.
In 2015, relief pitcher Dennis Sarfate recorded 43 saves, a new record for most single-season saves in the Pacific League. On April 2, 2017, Sarfate recorded his 178th save in Japan, setting a new record for most saves by a foreign pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball history. On July 4, 2017, Sarfate recorded his 200th save, becoming the sixth pitcher in NPB history to reach that threshold and the first foreign pitcher. On September 5, 2017, Sarfate earned his 47th save of the season, breaking the record for most single-season saves in Japanese baseball history. He finished the season with 54 saves. Sarfate earned two saves and a win in the 2017 Japan Series, and won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award.