The First Japanese-Born Player in Major League History Watched Shohei Ohtani in Person

Masanori Murakami isn’t a household name. The first Japanese-born player to suit up for a major league team only played two seasons with the San Francisco Giants (1964-65) before returning to his homeland to finish his professional career.

Now 80, Murakami is receiving some long overdue recognition as a Japanese baseball pioneer in the United States. In April, he was among the featured subjects of a Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit. Friday, he’s scheduled to throw the ceremonial first pitch at Japanese Heritage Night at Oracle Park.

Perhaps Murakami would have chosen to fly here from Japan a little later in the week were it not for the Giants’ current scheduled opponent: the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers, of course, committed more than $1 billion in future contract obligations to two Japanese-born free agents, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, this past offseason. Both players started against the Giants on Monday: Yamamoto on the mound, Ohtani at designated hitter.

So it was that the SportsNet LA broadcast crew met with Murakami before Monday’s game, then highlighted him during their game broadcast when cameras found Murakami sitting in the stands:

The Giants were not shy about using Ohtani — who counted San Francisco among his preferred finalists before finally signing with the Dodgers — in their promotional content for the rivalry series . Murakami certainly wasn’t the only one among the announced crowd of 35,033 who turned out to see Ohtani on Monday night.

Still, the chance to see his legacy in action had to be a special moment for Murakami. The Giants acquired Murakami long before the talent level in Japan could have predicted such an influx in native-born free agents to MLB. According to Baseball Reference ,

A relative non-prospect, Murakami was sent with two other young non-prospects to the San Francisco Giants to develop his skills in the low minors. Both the (Nippon Professional Baseball) and MLB commissioners’ offices had signed off on the Nankai-San Francisco development deal, wherein the teams would agree to send players back and forth to train in the minors. The agreement included a clause that gave the Giants the ability to buy the contract (for $10,000) of any of the Nankai prospects who made the Giants.

— via Baseball-Reference.com

Murakami lives in Japan, so the opportunity to see two of his country’s best players in person had to be a rare and special moment. Hopefully Murakami enjoys his week back in San Francisco — and continues to receive the proper recognition he deserves in the U.S.

Photo Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

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