Masanori Murakami
| Masanori Murakami 村上 雅則 |
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: May 6, 1944 Ōtsuki, Yamanashi, Japan |
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| Professional debut | |||
| NPB: June 1, 1963, for the Nankai Hawks | |||
| MLB: September 1, 1964, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| MLB: October 1, 1965, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
| NPB: 1982, for the Nippon Ham Fighters | |||
| NPB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 103–82 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.64 | ||
| Saves | 30 | ||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 5–1 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.43 | ||
| Strikeouts | 100 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Masanori "Mashi" Murakami (村上 雅則, Murakami Masanori, born May 6, 1944 in Ōtsuki, Yamanashi) is a retired Japanese baseball player.
He is notable for being the first Japanese player to play for a Major League Baseball team. Sent over to the United States by the Nankai Hawks, Murakami saw success as a reliever for the San Francisco Giants, debuting at the age of 20 in 1964. In 1965, 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 his success continued for another 17 years.
Murakami entered the Japanese Pacific League professional team, the Nankai Hawks, in September 1962, while still attending high school. In 1964, his team sent him, along with two other young players, to the San Francisco Giants single-A team Fresno as a baseball "exchange student". He was originally only scheduled to stay in the United States until June, but the Hawks neglected to call him back to Japan, and he stayed with the Giants for the rest of the season. In August of the same year, he was promoted to the majors, and on September 1, 1964, he became the first Japanese player to play in the major leagues. Murakami pitched extremely well as a reliever, and because of it, the Giants refused the Hawks' order to return him to Japan. The argument escalated during the 1964 off-season, and Japanese baseball commissioner Yushi Uchimura was called in to make the final decision on which team Murakami would play with. The commissioner made a compromise; Murakami would return to the Hawks after he had played for another full season with the Giants. He wore number 10 with the San Francisco Giants.
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