The 1995 season began under a big cloud, a lot of angry fans ... and a lot fewer fans. The strike that cancelled the World Series the previous fall -- the owners wanted to implement a salary cap -- continued on into spring training. Bud Selig announced that MLB was committed to playing the season with replacement players, if necessary, leading to Tigers manager Sparky Anderson refusing to manage the replacement players and Orioles owner Peter Angelos refusing to play at all (in order to protect Cal Ripken's consecutive games played streak).

Finally, on March 31, judge Sonia Sotomayor (now on the Supreme Court) issued an injunction against the owners. On April 2, a day before the season was to begin with the replacement players, the strike ended. A quick spring training would create an abbreviated 144-game season but at least it was a season with real major leaguers.

Ripken would break Gehrig's record later that summer and the Mariners would stun the Yankees in an epic battle in the Division Series. Both those events helped stir up interest again in a sport that saw attendance decline from 31,256 per game in 1994 to 25,008 in 1995. But earlier in the season there was another player who captured the headlines.

Two decades later, I think Hideo Nomo's impact has been forgotten. When he started the season in the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation, he became just the second Japanese player to appear in the majors. (Relief pitcher Masanori Murakami appeared in 54 games with the Giants in 1964-65, posting a 3.43 ERA.)

Nobody knew what to expect from Nomo. He had pitched for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, one of the worst teams in Japan, pitching in front of sparse crowds. He was criticized in Japan for deserting his team and country when he signed with the Dodgers. Within a few months, however, the prime minister would call him a national treasure.

He debuted on May 2 and threw five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Three starts later, he fanned 14 Pirates in seven scoreless innings. Still, he kept getting stuck with no-decisions and ended May at 0-1 with a 3.82 ERA.

Then Nomomania kicked in. One run in eight innings. One run again in eight innings. Sixteen strikeouts against the Pirates. Two runs in 8.1. Then back-to-back shutouts with 13 strikeouts. He went 6-0 in June, pitching at least eight innings each start, and his ERA dropped down to 2.05.

On July 2, he was named the All-Star starter. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated under the headline "What's Right About Baseball: Rookie ace Hideo Nomo is just one reason the game is better than you think." Nomo's twisting windup made it difficult to pick up the ball and his deadly splitter made it even more difficult to hit.

The All-Star Game took place on July 11, with Nomo matched up against Randy Johnson. Nomo pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a single to Carlos Baerga but striking out Kenny Lofton, Edgar Martinez and Albert Belle. Author Robert Whiting would later write, "Nomo's appearance in the 1995 All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas, was an historically significant moment, coming as it did almost exactly a half-century after the end of the Pacific War between Japan and the United States, and no one watching could escape its significance. A player from Japan had emerged to reignite the national pastime in a way that perhaps no native-born American could have, given the bitter emotions that remained over the strike."

Nomo would finish the season 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA, winning Rookie of the Year honors and finishing fourth in the Cy Young voting. He held batters to a .182 average, at the time the sixth-lowest for a starting pitcher since 1950. He led the NL in strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings (11.1). Only three starters had ever averaged more: Randy Johnson (in 1995), Nolan Ryan (1987 and 1989) and Dwight Gooden (1984).

Nomo never reached those heights again. He went 16-11 with a 3.19 ERA in 1996, including a remarkable no-hitter at Coors Field, but in 1998, as he struggled with his control and diminished velocity, the Dodgers traded him to the Mets for two relief pitchers. In spring of 1999, both the Mets and Cubs released him, although he'd end up going 12-8 for the Brewers. They cut him after the season. Considering the high offense of the time, Nomo wasn't a bad pitcher, but he drifted from Detroit to Boston (where he threw another no-hitter and led the AL in strikeouts in 2001) and then back to the Dodgers, where he went 32-19 with a 3.24 ERA in 2002-03.

Nomo is viewed as kind of a journeyman right-hander now but that's not exactly fair. From 1995 through 2003, he ranks 21st among major league pitchers in WAR, fifth in strikeouts and 11th in innings. Most importantly, of course, he opened the door for other Japanese pitchers and position players. Without Nomomania would we have had Ichiro Suzuki or Hideki Matsui or Hiroki Kuroda or Yu Darvish or Masahiro Tanaka?