Hideo Nomo

ANALYSIS
Nomo, 39, said he'd like to keep playing but had received no feelers since his release. "I want to continue, but I don't think I can deliver a professional-level performance anymore. I believe many clubs think the same way," Nomo said. He finishes his career with 201 major league wins (123-109, 4.24 in 323 MLB games; 78-46, 3.15 in 139 games in Japan). Nomo was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1995; he had two MLB no-hitters and is the only pitcher in baseball history to win strikeout titles in the NL (1995), AL (2001) and a Japanese major league (four Pacific League titles, 1990-1993). Nomo's successful move to MLB in 1995 helped pave the way for Ichiro Suzuki and others later. Nomo's stats won't quite get him into the Hall of Fame (on either side of the Pacific), but he was certainly a pioneer.