It has been 60 years since Masanori Murakami walked to the mound at Shea Stadium in New York — humming the hit song “Sukiyaki” to calm his nerves — to make his MLB debut for the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 1, 1964, at age 20.
The results from the night hardly matter — though Murakami performed well, striking out two in a scoreless eighth inning. A report from The New York Times the next day noted Murakami received a “brisk round of applause when he left.”
The night was important because it was the first time a Japanese player had appeared in an MLB game, cracking open a door many would walk through decades later.
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