More than 900 foreigners have played in Japanese pro baseball since Wally Yonamine joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1951, and it is always sad to hear when any of them have died. Baseball America and various Internet outlets have reported the recent deaths of four ex-major leaguers who also played in Japan in the 1960s and early '70s.
Those were the days when Central and Pacific League teams could employ only two foreigners per organization, and three of the four recently deceased played for franchises which no longer exist. Each of them stayed only one season in Japan, and I wonder how many old-time fans remember them.
Cal Emery, a first baseman who played in the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1963 and in Japan with the Hankyu Braves in 1970, died last Nov. 10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 73. Though he hit .400 (104-for-260) in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1969, Emery managed only a .213 batting average, eight homers and 30 RBIs in 94 games with Hankyu.