debutleague finalyear bats statleague birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel finalleague debutdate birth_date article_title debutteam name throws
npb mlb 1965 1982 left npb mlb Ōtsuki , yamanashi , japan 1963 1964 october 1 103 100 -- 82 3.64 30 5 -- 1 3.43 pitcher san francisco giants nippon ham fighters win -- loss record earned run average strikeouts -- loss record earned run average saves win mlb npb june 1 september 1 6 may 1944 masanori murakami
 nankai hawks san francisco giants masanori murakami 村上 雅則 left
masanori murakami

masanori `` mashi '' murakami -lrb- 村上 雅則 , `` murakami masanori '' , born may 6 , 1944 in Ōtsuki , yamanashi , japan -rrb- is a former pitcher for the san francisco giants .
he is notable for being the first japanese player ever to play for a major league team .
sent over to the united states by the nankai hawks , murakami saw success as a reliever for the giants , debuting at the age of 20 in .
in , he struck out over one batter per inning pitched , posted an era under 4 and earned eight saves .
following this season , however , murakami headed back to his original japanese club due to contractual obligations , where he continued his success for another 17 years .
