Upon reaching his milestone 3,000th strikeout in elite pro competition Friday, Yu Darvish reflected on how having fun as a child in Japan's rigid baseball culture by making the ball bend made him the pitcher he is today.
Darvish joined Hideo Nomo as just the second pitcher with 3,000 pro strikeouts and 1,000 each in Japan and MLB.
Famous in MLB for confounding hitters with a broad assortment of pitches, Darvish said that breaking pitches became his passion at an early age.