Eiji Sawamura
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Eiji Sawamura (沢村栄治, February 1, 1917 - December 2, 1944) was a right-handed pitcher who played professional baseball in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants.
On November 11, 1934, the 17-year-old Sawamura faced a team of visiting all-star players from Major League Baseball, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer. Entering the game in the fourth inning, the high school pitcher struck out nine batters and held the Americans to a single run over five innings pitched, a home run by Gehrig in the seventh that would saddle Sawamura with the loss. However, he did manage to strike out Gehringer, Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx in succession. Connie Mack, who was managing the American team, was so impressed by Sawamura's performance that he tried to sign him to a Major League contract; Sawamura refused to go, however, citing a reluctance to leave home.
With the formation of the professional baseball leagues in Japan, Sawamura joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1936 and became one of their aces. He pitched the first no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball, on September 25, 1936, as well as two others (May 1, 1937 and July 6, 1940). In 1937, he went 33-10 with a 1.38 earned run average. From 1937 to 1943, Sawamura accumulated 105 games pitched, a career record of 63-22, 554 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA.
In 1943, after the Pearl Harbor attacks, Sawamura enlisted in the Japanese Imperial Navy. He was killed in battle near the Ryūkyū Islands when his ship was torpedoed near the end of World War II.
Sawamura was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1959. The Sawamura Award -- Japan's equivalent to MLB's Cy Young -- given to the best pitchers in the League since 1947, is named in his honor.
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According to "The Big Bam" by Leigh Montville, it was Babe Ruth who hit the home run against Sawamura in the seventh for the lone run by the Americans, not Lou Gehrig. The game ended 1-0. Montville writes about the pitcher's performance, "(He) became an instante Japanese legend."
