Nomo Nabs N.L. Rookie Award Japanese Pitcher Allows Dodgers To Claim Honor For The 15th Time

Hideo Nomo hopes he opened doors by winning the N.L. Rookie of the Year award.

“I proved to people that America has opportunity,” Nomo said Thursday after edging Atlanta’s Chipper Jones and becoming the first Japanese player to win a major U.S. baseball award.

“This is not only in Japan,” Nomo said. “If a young talent, a young prospect, would like to get that chance and opportunity, they are welcome to come and should follow me.”

Nomo, the fourth consecutive Los Angeles Dodger to win the award, received 18 first-place votes, nine seconds and one third for 118 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Jones had 10 first-place votes and 18 seconds for 104 points.

“He had a tough, tough assignment, coming into a league he knew absolutely nothing about and yet being in a glass case,” Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said. “Everybody was watching him, every game he pitched was televised back to Tokyo. He was under a tremendous strain to accomplish what he did.”

Nomo, 27, is the second Japanese to play in the majors, following Masanori Murakami in 1964. In Japan, Nomo was a five-time All-Star and the top rookie in 1990. Five years later, he has another rookie honor.

“I never compared those prizes,” he said through an interpreter during a conference call from Tokyo.

He retired from Japan’s Pacific League following the 1994 season and signed with the Dodgers. He went 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA and led the N.L. with 236 strikeouts in 191-1/3 innings. He was the N.L. All-Star starter.

Nomo is the 15th Dodgers player to win the award and follows Eric Karros, Mike Piazza and Raul Mondesi. The Dodgers also won four straight from 1979-82: Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Sax.

He isn’t the oldest player to win. Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s racial barrier, was 28 when he won in 1947, also with the Dodgers.

Nomo made his major league debut May 2, pitching five scoreless innings against San Francisco. He got his first win on June 2. Twelve days later, he struck out 16 against Pittsburgh.

Jones, the third baseman for the World Series champions, may have had better statistics: a .265 average, 23 homers and 86 RBIs. But Nomo seized the spotlight by winning seven straight decisions from June 2 to July 15.