Hideo Nomo’s retirement has been a long time coming, which probably dulls the effect a little bit. But there’s been a great deal of reaction — in fact, I’d say nearly every baseball outlet is at least reacting. It serves as testimony to his great career.

Patrick from NPB tracker has a nice post with translated quotes from the players most directly affected by Nomo’s greatness — Daisuke Matsuzaka, Motoyuki Akahori, Yu Darvish and others. There’s also a link to one of the many YouTube clips of Nomo. Everyone ought to go watch his great windup at least one more time.

I also found this quote from Kosuke Fukudome, as interviewed in a Chicago-area newspaper.

“It wasn’t so much personal for me, but for all the Japanese players who followed Nomo and came over to the major leagues, his debut in ‘95 was huge, and all the players now are here because of Nomo,” Fukudome said through an interpreter Friday, the day after Nomo announced his retirement.

“We’re all walking in the path that Nomo created.”

Lastly I want to point you in the direction of something I wrote here at EWC back in the early part of the year. The piece documents Nomo comeback phase 1, when he signed with the Boston Red Sox following a so-so year with the Detroit Tigers, and a 1999 year that saw him play for no less than four teams. In other words he was washed up. Then he threw a no-hitter.