Prewar Foreign Ballplayers in Nippon Professional Baseball

• Jimmy Bonna,  American,  1936
• Masao Furukawa,  Nisei,   1937-39
• Shosei Go,  Taiwanese , 1937-57
• Shigekazu Hasegawa, Nisei,   1940-41
• Kiyomi Hirakawa,  Nisei,   1936-37
• Chikayoshi Honda, Nisei,   1940-42
• Jimmy Horio,  Nisei,   1936-41
• Tadashi Kameda,  Nisei,   1938-41
• Toshio Kameda,  Nisei,   1939-40
• Kazuyoshi Matsuura, Nisei,   1936
• Harrison McGaillard, American,  1936-38
• Jiro Moriguchi,   Nisei,   1937-38
• Kiyomitsu Nogami, Nisei,   1937-38
• Herbert North,  American,  1936
• Kano Omoda,  Nisei,   1937-39
• Kenmei Park,  Korean,   1939
• Adelano Rivera,  Philippine,  1939
• Victor Starfin,  Russian,   1936-55
• Mamoru Sugitaya,  Nisei,   1937-41
• Yoshio Takahashi, Nisei,   1936-43
• Yoshio Tanaka,  Nisei,   1937-44
• Fujio Ueda,  Nisei,   1937-48
• Yoshio Ueda,  Nisei,   1938-40
• Tadashi Wakabayashi, Nisei,   1936-53
• Den Yamada,  Nisei,   1937-48

A Nisei is a Japanese-American.  Most were born in Hawaii.

Jimmy Bonna, from Sacramento, California, came over at the end of the year and returned home in November.

Taiwan was a Japanese colony at the time of Shosei Go’s birth.  He became a naturalized Japanese citizen and was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.

Tadashi Kameda and Jimmy Horio left Japan in 1941 due to worsening tensions with the United States.

Harrison McGalliard, Kazuyoshi Matsuura, Herbert North, and Yoshio Takahashi came to Japan from Los Angeles of the Pacific League in 1936.  They were invited by Atsushi Kono, manager of the Waseda University club that was touring the States at the time.

Bucky Harris, a.k.a. Harrison McGalliard, played three seasons of professional baseball in Japan from 1936, the league’s inaugural season, to 1938 with Nagoya and the Eagles.  He was the 1938 spring season home run leader.  Earlier, he copped the MVP award in the fall of 1937.  The American catcher was expelled from Japan in 1939 because of his nationality.  Harris finished with a career-.309 average in 711 at bats.

Kano Omoda, a Nisei from Hawaii, played center field for the Tokyo Senators from 1937-39.  In 1940 he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army.

Kenmei Park played in the industrial leagues until signing in 1938.  He was scantly used other than as a batting practice pitcher; thus, he left Japan and returned home.

The Tokyo Giants came across Adelano Rivera during their tour of the Philippines in January 1939.  He played the year out and returned home.

Victor Starfin was a white, Russian refugee whose parents settled in Japan during the Bolshevik Revolution in the early 20th century.  The 6’, 4”, 230 lb. righthander became Japan’s first 300-game winner during his 19-year career spanning 1936-55.  The fireballer still holds records with 42 victories in 1939 and 83 career shutouts.  At the end of World War II, 1944, Starfin was designated a foreign enemy and forced to take the name Horoshi Sudo.  He would also be temporarily confined to house arrest in Karuizawa, a town in Nagano.  The pitcher would later be used as a translator during the war crimes trials.  Shortly after retiring, Starfin was killed when he hit a train while driving under the influence.  He was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.

Hawaiian-born Tadashi Wakabayashi first came to Japan as a high school student in 1928.  He stayed to attend college and then joined the pro leagues.  He was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.

Even though he grew up in Elk Grove, California, Den Yamada took Japanese citizenship during WWII.  He played Japanese pro ball from 1937-48.

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