Big in Japan in New York City. Sell out crowds and T-Shirt sales. Today I think it’s safe to say that Ichiro is familiar with Inoki, and Matsuzaka and Matsui surely pay their respects to Nomo. From Soriano to Shinjo, the influence and marketability of Japanese players has only grown. In fact, even the flops are good business.

Remember Me?
I’m 6 foot 4 inches. I weigh 240lb strong.

My nickname is Japan was Kurage – Japanese for ‘Jellyfish’

In 1997 I signed for 4 years, $12.8 Million to play in MLB

I have something up my sleeve…literally. I request 30 tiny magnets be attached to my right arm while I pitch - for blood circulation of course.

I carry around Nike bags in spring training, despite the $95 Million deal I signed with Adidas before throwing 1 major league pitch.

I sold out every seat in Yankee Stadium in my MLB debut; that’s 51,901 fans. In retrospect, the hype was only comparable to Mickey Mantle’s debut in 1951.

With my first start, I generated about $1M increase in revenue in one night.

My 1st game was broadcast to 35 million homes, 38 outdoor screens in urban areas of Japan.

My name used to be ‘ERA-boo’ in Japan – but it quickly became ‘ir-RAH-boo’ in the states. Typhoon Irabu – as the T-Shirts said.

He is now fondly known in baseball circles as simply ‘The Toad’