The Making of an Agent - Chapter 1 (Part 3)

The Don Nomura Story

This book, about super agent Don Nomura, the man who took Hideo Nomo to the U.S Major Leagues and opened the long-closed door door to MLB for Japanese baseball players, was originally published in 1999 in Japanese by Bungei Shunju as

日出づる国の奴隷野球: 憎まれた代理人団野村の闘い

"In Japan, the coach is the master; the athlete, a disciple," Bill Shang continued, "the teacher-disciple (coach-athlete) bond is a very important one and fits into the whole group orientation of the Japanese ... Moreover, whereas American athletes practice long and hard, but concentrate simply on developing skills, in Japan, there's a Zen approach to practice, where learning is a more intuitive than a rational process. A Japanese athlete looks on practice as more a development of inner self than muscle and is bound to work out until he reaches mental limitations, which in most cases (are) far beyond physical. It was a reasonable enough study and a logical enough conclusion, unfortunately, however, the authors doing the research did not meet Hideo Nomo, who came along and did his best to shake up such assumptions.

In retrospect, it seemed inevitable that someone like Hideo Nomo would appear. After all, the world was getting smaller. Five hundred channels of satellite television were bringing countries around the world into sharper focus than ever before. There were daily reminders in the media of the preferential treatment and opportunities an American star enjoyed. Wasn't it just a matter of time until a top Japanese star wanted the same?