Japanese Hall of Fame goes global with induction of foreign-born stars

In a move without precedent in Japan’s long baseball history, players from Oklahoma and Venezuela were inducted into the country’s Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. For the inductees, Randy Bass and Alex Ramirez, the event was yet another in a long line of opportunities to exceed expectations for American players in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Bass, famous in Japan for his blond beard and back-to-back triple crowns, led the Hanshin Tigers to the franchise’s only championship in 1985. Ramirez, who struggled to get playing time in Major League Baseball, is the only foreigner to reach 2,000 hits in an NPB career, reaching the coveted milestone in 2013 with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

“The Japanese Hall of Fame was never on my radar growing up in that small town of Lawton, Oklahoma,” said Bass, who played only six seasons in NPB but left an indelible mark on the game there. “I’m just thankful to the Hanshin organization that despite the way it ended, all these years later, they still consider me family and I’m sure this honor wouldn’t be possible without them supporting it.”

The path to election for Bass and Ramirez was complicated by a baseball system in Japan that was sometimes unkind to players born outside the country, especially to players with no Japanese ancestry.

The sport was brought to Japan in the late 19th century and flourished at the amateur level until a professional league was established in 1936. And Japan’s Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1959. Since then, more than 200 people have been elected to the Hall, including those most responsible for developing the sport there and those who have excelled in NPB

But so far, Victor Starffin was the only player to be included without Japanese ancestry, the first pitcher to win 300 games in Japan. Starffin’s family fled the Russian Revolution through Siberia and found shelter in the countryside of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Matsutaro Shoriki signed him as a teenager to pitch as an original member of his team, now known as the Yomiuri Giants, when a professional league was formed in 1936.

Starffin was Japan’s first inductee in the player category in 1960.

Lefty O’Doul, a Californian, was awarded in 2002 for his assistance in the early development of the Japanese professional game and a year later the Mainer Horace Wilson stepped in as Japan’s “father of baseball”, reportedly the first to teach the game in 1872.

However, O’Doul and Wilson were chosen as builders, making Starffin the only foreign-born player to receive induction with no Japanese ancestry. That’s an important distinction, because in the beginning most of the foreign players were second- or third-generation Japanese from Hawaii. Two such players, Tadashi Wakabayashi and Wally Yonamine, are Hall of Famers.

Over the years, more than 1,000 non-Japanese foreign players have played professionally in that country, but until this week, Starffin was alone in the Hall of Fame.

“It’s nice to see Japan opening up and maybe they’re being a little fair now,” Marty Kuehnert, a longtime baseball and sports executive, said by phone from his home in Japan. “I think the way Ichiro was treated when he came to America in 2001 and pitched when prestigious records were at stake – that influenced the people here about fairness and the way foreign guys should be treated.”

Bass’ plight is at the forefront of Kuehnert’s comment. A journeyman first baseman drafted by the Minnesota Twins, Bass played for five MLB teams from 1977 to 1982, but he rose to stardom after signing with Hanshin for the 1983 season. He led the Central League in 10 different offensive categories during his first four seasons, including the triple crown categories – batting average, home runs, and RBI – in both 1985 and 1986. He was named the Most Valuable Player in the regular season and Japan Series in 1985.

However, for all his achievements, Bass is often remembered for the one he failed to achieve: Sadaharu Oh’s record of 55 home runs in a single season. Bass had 54 with two games left in 1985. But the Giants, led by Oh, refused to challenge him and walked him six times in his last eight at bats of the season.

The record was eventually overthrown by another foreigner, Wladimir Balentien of Curaçao, who did it for the Yakult Swallows in 2013. Balentien reached 55 with 22 games left in the regular season, leaving opposing pitchers with no choice but to challenge him. His total of 60 home runs is the record.

However, Bass’s ascending career was cut short when he left Hanshin during the 1988 season to care for his 8-year-old son after the discovery of a brain tumor (his son eventually survived the tumor and now has a family of his own). The attitude in Japan at the time prioritized work over everything else and the Tigers eventually released Bass. He was hitting .321 at the time, yet no other team would challenge Hanshin to sign him and his career in Japan ended abruptly at age 34.

Despite such setbacks from management and detractors, Bass won over fans with his perseverance and lack of condescension. He is still highly respected and wildly popular 35 years later.

His reaction to news of his induction, sharing credit with the team that cut him, showed humility. But Kuehnert was more than happy to argue that Bass deserved everything he received.

“Yes, he only played six seasons in Japan,” said Kuehnert. “But his career is a bit like Sandy Koufax: short but spectacular. He is the fastest to hit 200 home runs in Japanese history, he still has the highest season average of .389 in 1986, and he is one of only three players to have back-to-back triple crowns with the other two already in.

Alex Ramirez had a completely different story. Originally signed by Cleveland as a 16-year-old amateur free agent in 1991, he was considered a talented hitter who lacked a defensive position. He played parts of three MLB seasons before signing with Yakult for the 2001 season, beginning what would become a 13-year career in Japan.

Ramirez said it was his great fortune to have a baseball player, Charlie Manuel, as his hitting coach and manager in the Cleveland organization. Manuel himself played six seasons in Japan, beating Oh from 1977 to 1980 – 166 to 152 – despite playing 53 games less.

“One day Charlie said to me, ‘Alex, you’re a million dollar player,'” Ramirez recalled. “’But not in the United States. Go to Japan.’” I said, “Japan? I thought that was for the players who are about to retire.” He said, “No, no, with your hitting ability, you can play there every day and stay long.” He was right and I am so thankful to Charlie for encouraging me to go.”

“Rami chan”, as he is affectionately known in Japan, retired in 2013 with 2,017 hits. With about 20 fewer games in a season than in MLB, Japan embraces 2,000 hits with the same reverence as America’s 3,000. As the only foreigner to reach the mark, Ramirez was chosen by writers in his fourth year of eligibility; Bass had expired his eligibility with writers and was chosen by a special committee.

Bass and Ramirez both hope their honor opens the door for other foreigners to gain entry into Japan’s Hall of Fame. Among those they named are Americans Karl Rhodes (known by many as Tuffy), whose 464 home runs in 13 seasons are the most hit by a foreigner, and Leron Lee, who was a stellar hitter during an 11-season career in Japan and whose batting average of .320 remains the highest mark in NPB history.