This Day In Dodgers History: Hideo Nomo Starts 1995 MLB All-Star Game

This day in Los Angeles Dodgers history saw Hideo Nomo make MLB history as the first Japanese pitcher to start the MLB All-Star Game.

Nomo took the ball for the National League on July 11, 1995, just nine days after he became the first player from Japan to be selected to the MLB All-Star Game in history.

Nomo also became the second Dodgers rookie selected to the All-Star game in franchise history, joining Fernando Valenzuela. In addition, he became the 13th Dodgers pitcher to start an All-Star Game, and since then, five more have followed.

Nomo pitched two scoreless innings, allowing just one single to Carlos Baerga. He struck out Kenny Lofton, Edgar Martinez and Albert Belle in the outing.

Nomo went on to pitch 191.1 inning during the 1995 season while posting a 2.54 ERA, striking out an MLB-best 236 hitters and posting 1.06 WHIP.

The right-hander was named the NL Rookie of the Year, beating out Future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves.

Nomo also finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting, falling behind the Braves’ Greg Maddux, Pete Schourek of the Cincinnati Reds, and Maddux’s teammate, Tom Glavine.

Nomo’s rookie season was the only year he was selected to the All-Star Game, although he did finish fourth in Cy Young voting once again during his second season.

He went on to pitch 12 years at the Major League level, posting a 4.24 ERA over 1,976.1 innings. Nomo spent seven of those seasons with the Dodgers, ending his tenure in L.A. during the 1998 season and later returning in 2002.

For the Dodgers, he pitched 1,217.1 innings with a 3.74 ERA while striking out 1,200 batters. L.A. was the only city he found much success as he pitched for six other clubs as well but never had an ERA below 4.50 for them.

Nomo had stops with the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, New York Mets and Kansas City Royals.

1995 MLB All-Star Game

The NL ended up defeating the American League in the 1995 All-Star Game, 3-2. The runs were scored against Dennis Martinez, Kenny Rogers and Steve Ontiveros.

John Smiley allowed two runs for the NL to put the AL in front, but home runs from Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza and Jeff Conine powered the NL to the win.

Randy Myers earned the save for the NL, while Conine was voted as the games’ MVP.