Long history of MLB players joining NPB teams

Second in a three-part series

TOKYO — In 1962, the Chunichi Dragons signed former MLB stars Don Newcombe and Larry Doby. They were the first former major leaguers to play with a Japanese club. Newcombe had been an ace pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but played for the Dragons almost exclusively as an outfielder/first-baseman, hitting .262 with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs, while setting a team record for alcohol consumption. Doby compiled modest numbers of a .225 batting average, 10 home runs, and 35 RBIs. Newcombe and Doby each only played one NPB season before returning home to the United States.

In 1964, Nankai Hawks ace Joe Stanka, a former Chicago White Sox farmhand, won 26 games to receive the Pacific League MVP award — the first American to win the honor. He pitched shutouts in Games 1, 6, and 7 of the 1964 Japan Series to win that MVP award as well. The same year, fellow American pitcher Gene Bacque of the Hanshin Tigers compiled a 29-9 record with a 1.89 ERA, becoming the first non-Japanese player to receive the Eiji Sawamura Award. Bacque won Game 2 of the Japan Series that year, but lost Game 6 to Stanka 1-0.