April 13, 1996: Hideo Nomo takes spotlight with 17 strikeouts on a big sports night in Los Angeles

It was a busy night for sports in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, April 13, 1996. The Dodgers had a home game with Japanese sensation Hideo Nomo starting, which usually meant a big crowd was on its way.

A few miles north of Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Galaxy were playing their first-ever Major League Soccer match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. That drew a crowd announced at 69,255, a number catching stadium authorities there by surprise; they had predicted about half that turnout. The Galaxy won 2-1 over the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.1

A few miles south of Dodger Stadium, the woebegone Los Angeles Clippers (28-49 at the time) drew a sellout crowd of 16,021 for a game against the Utah Jazz because of a high-school cheerleading promotion at the old Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The Clippers prevailed, 91-81.2

All three events started at about the same time, turning the main thoroughfares connecting the three facilities, the Harbor and Pasadena Freeways, into parking lots. The traditionally late-arriving crowd at Dodger Stadium was coming in very late.

Hideo Nomo had made an immediate impression on his arrival to major-league baseball in the 1995 season. The first Japanese native to pitch in the majors since Masanori Murakami in 1965, Nomo won the Rookie of the Year Award in the National League with a 13-6 season, a 2.54 ERA, and a league-leading 236 strikeouts in 191 ⅓ innings. He also gave up the fewest hits (5.8) per nine innings.

Nevertheless, concerns were voiced over whether Nomo could pull off another season as good as his rookie year. Was Nomo’s dominant debut season the result of a reduced spring training and limited scouting available for a player coming from Japan? Or was Nomo a legitimate pitching star?

After a bad start on the road at Houston (4 IP, 4 R, 7 H, 5 BB) to start the season, Nomo’s own teammates even raised questions. Second baseman Delino Deshields said, “I believe in Hideo, but I don’t expect him to dominate like last year. People are going to make adjustments. This is the big leagues. These are big league hitters. And he’s going to need that room to concentrate on what he needs to do.”3

Nomo responded with a complete game, a three-hit shutout over World Series champion Atlanta in the home opener before 53,180. Another big crowd was anticipated for his next start, a Saturday night game against Florida. Although it was not a sellout, 46,059 tickets were sold for an early-season game on a busy sports night in the city.

Nomo had a bit of a shaky start. Rookie leadoff man Quilvio Veras singled Jesus Tavarez drew a base on balls, putting two on with no outs for Florida’s best hitter, Gary Sheffield. Nomo struck out Sheffield and catcher Mike Piazza gunned down Veras trying to steal third for a double play. Jeff Conine followed with a strikeout.

Two Marlins fanned in the second and the first two struck out in the third before Veras homered to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Veras’s line drive hit the top of the wall in right field and bounced up in the air and back onto the field. First-base umpire Tom Hallion ruled it a homer.

The Dodgers tied the game on a solo homer by left fielder Billy Ashley in the third. A two-run homer by right fielder Raúl Mondesí in the fourth put the Dodgers ahead.

After five innings, Nomo was up to 10 strikeouts. He struck out two in the sixth sandwiched around a walk to Veras, who was subsequently picked off by Nomo and caught stealing at second. Nomo struck out the side in the seventh to bring his total to 15 K’s.

By this time, Dodgers fans were aware that they could be seeing something special. The team record for strikeouts in a game was 18, done twice by Sandy Koufax (in 1959 and 1962) and matched by Ramón Martínez in 1990.

Shortstop Kurt Abbott was victim 16 to lead off the eighth, but the next two batters, pinch-hitter Joe Orsulak and Veras, were retired on a popout and a lineout, respectively.

Tavarez led off the ninth with a strikeout to bring Nomo’s total to 17, one more than his previous best of 16, against the Pirates in 1995. A tiring Nomo had two chances left to get to 18 or 19. But Sheffield managed to ground out weakly to the box and Conine ended the game with a lineout to left. Even though it was not even a team record, the crowd roared its approval as Nomo pitched a game that put him in rarefied air among Dodgers pitchers.

With Nomo racking up the strikeouts and the game going by quickly (2:10), a large portion of the crowd stayed for the duration to cheer on the team’s newest pitching hero.

After the game Abbott, Nomo’s former teammate in Japan on the Kintetsu Buffaloes, said, “I just started laughing. It was so frustrating.”4

Nomo downplayed the strikeouts after the game. “I didn’t really think about it. The main point of the game is for the team to win instead of me setting records,” he said through an interpreter. “It was fun. I was happy I was able to pitch in this kind of situation.”5

Manager Tommy Lasorda said, “He was great. I can’t put it any simpler. The man was great. I don’t think there any doubts now.”6

After the consecutive complete games, Nomo did not have another one until September 17, when he threw a no-hitter at Coors Field against the Rockies.

Nomo left the Dodgers in the middle of the 1998 season after requesting a trade instead of accepting a relief role. He then kicked around the majors, going to the Mets, Brewers, Tigers, and Red Sox. Nomo threw a second no-hitter, pitching for the Red Sox in 2001. He showed enough in 2001, leading the American League in strikeouts with 220, to get a return to the Dodgers, where he pitched well in 2002 and 2003, but fell off badly in 2004, going 4-11 with an ERA of 8.25, and was left off the postseason roster.

In seven Dodger seasons, Nomo was 81-66 with a 3.74 ERA.

After the Marlins game ended, the crowd filed out and got in their cars to head home, only to find out that the same sporting events that caused the traffic to get there had all ended around the same time too.

Author’s Note

The author attended this game and even for a lifelong Southern California resident found the traffic jams to be almost impenetrable.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org,

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN199604130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1996/B04130LAN1996.htm

Notes

1 Grahame L. Jones, “Galaxy’s Opener Is Fantastic: Soccer: Crowd of 69,225 at Rose Bowl watches 2-1 victory over MetroStars,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1996; Shawn Hubler, “Soccer Surprise Stokes Debate on Rose Bowl,” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1996.

2 Scott Wolf, “Clippers Make Noise Against Jazz – Clippers 91, Utah 81,” Los Angeles Daily News, April 14, 1996.

3 Bob Nightengale, “Astros Performance Takes Words Out of Nomo’s Mouth,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 1996.

4 Bob Nightengale, “17 Marlins Join Nomo’s Fan Club: Dodgers Pitcher Gets Career High in 3-1 Victory Over Florida,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1996.

5 Nightengale, “17 Marlins Join Nomo’s Fan Club.”

6 Nightengale, “17 Marlins Join Nomo’s Fan Club.”