Michimaro Ono

Michimaro Ono (小野 三千麿)

• School Keio University

• Born May 22, 1897 in Kanagawa Prefecture Japan
• Died February 2, 1956

Biographical Information

Michimaro Ono was a star Japanese pitcher in the decade before the formation of the first Japanese professional league.

Ono pitched for Keio, Mita Club and Daimai. He had his finest moment on November 19, 1922. Facing the Herb Hunter All-Stars, he outpitched Waite Hoyt in a 9-3 win, allowing five hits and four walks. The Herb Hunter All-Stars included Luke Sewell, Riggs Stephenson, Irish Meusel, George Kelly, Casey Stengel and Bibb Falk. No Japanese hurler had ever beaten an American MLB team before; it was the lone loss for Hunter's team on the trip. Judge Landis was furious about the loss, saying the Americans threw the game to drum up Japanese baseball interest. Even the great Eiji Sawamura failed to beat an American team, though he held a better squad with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to a single run in 1934, better than Ono had done; he simply did not have the offensive support. Ono later became a sportswriter and promoter of amateur baseball. In 1959, he was part of the first class of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sources

• Article by Rob Fitts for SABR
• The Baseball Guru
• Vintageball.com
• Vintageball.com
• Japanese Wikipedia
• Japanese Hall of Fame