Hiedo Nomo may have only received six votes for the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame, but the Japan Times reports that he is a first-ballot inductee to Japan’s Hall of Fame. Joining him is fellow-former U.S. big leaguer Kazuhiro Sasaki and outfielder Koji Akiyama.
Being a first-ballot inductee is quite rare in Japan. Nomo becomes only the third player in history to do it. The other two were Sadaharu Oh and Victor Starffin. Everyone knows who Oh is, but I had no idea who Victor Starffin was until a few minutes ago. I Googled him because, obviously, it’s not a Japanese name. He has a pretty neat story that you should go read. If you don’t bother, at least know that he was Japan’s first 300-game winner.
Anyway, congratulations Hideo Nomo, Kaz Sasaki and Koji Akiyama.
