On June 2, 1995, Hideo Nomo earned the first Major League victory of his career, giving up one run on two hits while pitching into the ninth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium by a score of 2-1.
It was the first of 13 wins for Nomo that season, which placed him in the top-10 among National League starters. He would go on to collect 123 career wins over the course of 12 seasons in the Majors.
The Dodgers signed the 26-year-old from Japanese to a Minor League contract with a signing bonus of more than $2 million in the off-season. While 1995 started out pretty ho-hum for the former Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) All-Star with five no-decisions to begin his career, it ended up being quite the season for the Dodgers’ rookie.
Nomo was selected as an All-Star in his rookie season after pitching to the tune of a 1.99 ERA through his first 13 starts, and was the starting pitcher for the NL.
He finished that season with a 2.54 ERA, 236 strikeouts and 1.06 WHIP in 191.1 innings that season, which earned him a selection as NL Rookie of the Year for the 1995 season.
Nomo led MLB in strikeouts that season, and his 2.54 ERA was good enough for second. His 11.10 strikeouts per 9 innings broke Sandy Koufax’s single-season franchise record of 10.54 in 1962.
Nomo is perhaps best known for what he did next season in 1996 at Coors Field, achieving the seemingly impossible task of throwing a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on their home field. It remains the only no-hitter ever thrown at Coors Field to this day.
It was the first of two no hitters in Nomo’s career, with his final one coming against the Baltimore Orioles as a member of the Boston Red Sox. In the process, he became just the fourth player in baseball history to have thrown a no-hitter in both leagues.
Nomo played for four different teams after he was traded by the Dodgers in 1998 before returning to L.A. in 2002. He spent three more seasons with the Dodgers before playing the final two seasons of his career elsewhere.
In total, Nomo played parts of seven seasons as a member of the Dodgers. He had a 81-66 record with a 3.74 ERA and 1,200 strikeouts in 191 appearances for the Dodgers in his career.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto drew comparisons to Hideo Nomo
Manager Dave Roberts has seen many similarities between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Nomo. Beyond their obvious shared heritage as Japanese-born starting pitchers, Yamamoto’s arsenal and his approach as a pitcher remind Roberts a lot of Nomo.
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