East Faces West

On this day in history, in 1964, pitcher Masanori Murakami (not pictured) became the first Japanese baseball player to play in U.S. baseball's Major Leagues. Murakami pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the San Francisco Giants in a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

Despite great success as a pitcher for the Giants, his tenure with the team only lasted two years. In 1966, he returned to Japan to play for the Nankai Hawks.

It would be another thirty years before the next Japanese player joined the U.S. Major Leagues, when Hideo Nomo debuted with the L.A. Dodgers in 1995.

Heaven And Earth