Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were elected to the United States' National Baseball Hall of Fame last week to much fanfare. While both players spent the entirety of their Hall of Fame careers in North America, neither star is a stranger to Japanese baseball fans.
Piazza, in particular, is a known commodity among Japanese. He was in his fourth season catching for the Los Angeles Dodgers when, in 1995, pitcher Hideo Nomo made his historic jump to the majors. Nomo was an instant sensation in Year 1 — he whirled his way to a 13-6 record, 236 strikeouts, 2.54 ERA, 2.89 fielding independent pitching, and a 4.7 wins above replacement — and became a huge star as fans in Japan awoke early to watch his starts and revel in his success.
Nomo was already a top pitcher in Japan and his move to the West, which was contentious to say the least, was major news. Success only pushed his profile in Japan even higher, so much so that Piazza became somewhat of a star in his own right. Piazza was able to cash in on his newfound international fame, signing endorsement deals with Gunze, an underwear maker, and Komatsu, a mining and construction equipment manufacturer, that were believed to be in the range of $2 million, according to Baltimore Sun writer Jonathan Herskovitz in a 1995 article.