Hideo Nomo to active status. This led to him heading to the U.S., where in February 1995, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him. Nomo made his U.S. pro baseball debut with the Bakersfield Blaze on April 27, 1995, against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Placed on a 90-pitch limit, and throwing mainly fastballs, Nomo pitched 5⅓ innings, taking the 2–1 loss against the Quakes. On May 2, after a month in the minors necessitated by a player's strike, he became the first Japanese-born Major Leaguer to appear in a major league game since Masanori Murakami in . He was also the first Japanese-born
Eiji Sawamura Award only Central League pitchers were eligible to win the award from (the first year the NPB employed the current two-league format) to . The first pitcher to be bestowed the honors from the Pacific League was Hideo Nomo for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in . No pitcher was found to be sufficiently deserving of the award in , , , and . The award has been presented to two pitchers in the same season twice (, ). While it is sometimes assumed that the award was introduced following the creation of the Cy Young Award in Major League Baseball, the Cy