Roger Arrieta
From Dodgers
Hideo Nomo will be on hand Saturday to throw the ceremonial first pitch on his bobblehead day (1:05 p.m. vs. TB). This marks Nomo’s first public appearance at Dodger Stadium since retiring from baseball in 2008. Nomo will briefly be available to the media on the field prior to the first pitch scheduled for approximately 1:00 p.m.
The Nomo bobblehead commemorates Nomo’s no-hitter, the last in Los Angeles Dodger franchise history, on September 17, 1996 at Coors Field in Colorado. The first 50,000 fans on Saturday will receive a Nomo bobblehead. This is the second Dodger Stadium bobblehead for Nomo (Aug. 24, 2002).
Nomo broke into the Majors in 1995 and had one of the best seasons for a pitcher in Dodger history, setting the single-season franchise record for strikeouts per nine innings with 11.1 while ranking among the National League leaders in several pitching categories. That same season, the Japanese-born pitcher won the NL Rookie of the Year award, placed fourth in the NL Cy Young Award voting and was named to the NL All-Star Team. In seven seasons with the Dodgers, the right-hander posted an 81-66 record with a 3.74 ERA and threw the 10th no-hitter in Los Angeles Dodger franchise history on Sept. 17, 1996, the last no-hitter thrown by a Dodger and first of his two career no-hitters. Nomo played in 12 Major League seasons combined with Los Angeles, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, New York (NL), Boston, Detroit and Milwaukee.
