Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄, Nomo Hideo, born August 31, 1968) is a Japanese retired baseball pitcher who played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He achieved early success in his native country, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1990 to 1994. He then exploited a loophole to free himself from his contract, and became the first Japanese major leaguer to permanently relocate to MLB in the United States, debuting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. Although he was not the first Japanese player in American professional baseball, Nomo is often credited with opening the door for Japanese players in MLB, due to his star status.Nomo pitched over a span of 13 seasons in the American major leagues with 8 different teams, before retiring in 2008. In 1995, he won the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award and was named an MLB All-Star. He twice led MLB in strikeouts and also threw two no-hitters. He was the only Japanese pitcher in MLB to throw a no-hitter until the Seattle Mariners' Hisashi Iwakuma did so on August 12, 2015, against the Baltimore Orioles.Nomo was well known for his distinctive "tornado" pitching windup and delivery. In 2014, Nomo was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
