January 3, 2023

By Evan Christie

Canadian Baseball Network

When Nigel Wilson led NPB’s Pacific League in home runs, it was a shock to many.

Someone winning a home run title in their first season is rare, and Wilson joined a very exclusive club by doing so. He and Central League home run king Dwayne Hosey joined a club that to that point only included Shigeo Nagashima (1958), Takeshi Kuwata (1959), Leron Lee (1977), Tony Solaita (1981), Rick Lancellotti (1987), Larry Parrish (1989) and Jack Howell (1992). Since then eight others have joined it. That may dull the achievement in your eyes, but remember that is still 16 out of 146.

The difference was Wilson didn’t have the pedigree. Something he really only shared with Lancellotti.

Shigeo Nagashima is widely regarded as a top-five player in NPB history (I personally put him at No. 2).

Takeshi Kuwata was part of the legendary 1960 Taiyo Whales who became the first NPB club to win the Japan Series after finishing last the year prior.

Leron Lee had put up an .850 OPS (149 OPS+) season with the San Diego Padres in 1972.

Tony Solaita, the only Samoan MLBer, had a career 120 OPS+ and had spent seven seasons as a serviceable DH.

And Larry Parrish and Jack Howell had been above average major leaguers for years. They also, by coincidence, are the two hitters who were the most successful against Toronto Blue Jays ace Dave Stieb.

Dwayne Hosey had just put up a 160 OPS+ in 77 games with the Red Sox in 1995.

Then there’s Wilson.

Despite being an original Florida Marlin, Wilson was unable to crack their roster in their Opening Day roster and played just seven games with them in September. His stint in Cincinnati didn’t go well either, but he had finally gotten where he needed to be in 1996.

After a year where he tore up triple-A Buffalo, Wilson hit two homers and put up a 1.058 OPS in his 10-game call up with Cleveland. This put the Nippon-Ham Fighters on notice and they’d sign him for the 1997 season.

In his first season at the Tokyo Dome, Wilson snuck up on everyone. He would edge out Fukuoka Daiei Hawks second baseman Hiroki Kokubo for the home run crown, hitting 37 home runs to Kokubo’s 36. He did so with a two-run shot in the fourth inning on September 28 against Seibu Lions starter Hisanori Yokota.

At the time, it seemed like Kokubo would be able to beat him, as he sat at 34 homers on September 28. His Hawks still had eight games remaining after Wilson’s Fighters finished their season on October 2, but he was only able to hit two more.

However, Wilson would not really be rewarded for this. He wasn’t an all-star, nor did he win a Best 9 award as the best DH in the Pacific League, with the award instead going to former Toronto Blue Jay Domingo Martinez, who was DH for the Seibu Lions.

To be fair, by wRC+ and OPS+, Martinez was the better hitter, but Wilson was still the first PL home run leader not to be named to the PL Best 9 since 1976 Clarence Jones, and the first league-wide since Lancellotti in 1987. Even then, Jones had won a Best 9 award when he’d previously led the PL in home runs in 1974.

To top it off, Dwayne Hosey, the CL home run leader, was named to the CL’s Best 9. He also got to cap off his year with a Japan Series championship, while Wilson’s Fighter’s languished in fourth in the PL.

One thing became clear, he had to do it again.

But the 1998 season didn’t exactly get off to the best of starts. Teammates Atsushi Kataoka and Jerry Brooks went on an absolute tear to start the season, hitting six homers apiece in April, while Wilson could only manage five. Neither Brooks not Kataoka had been able to hold a candle to Wilson the previous year, with Brooks only hitting 16 home runs and Kataoka 17. To top it off, Phil Clark of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, Tadahito Iguchi of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, and Wilson’s old rival Domingo Martinez were all nipping at his heels. This wasn’t going to be as easy as last year.

May would be even worse.

A different teammate, Yukio Tanaka, went on an absolute tear, hitting nine home runs. Katsuhiro Nishiura added seven of his own, meanwhile Wilson, Brooks and Kataoka all hit only four home runs. This now meant that the defending home run king was now fifth in homers on his own team.

To top it off, Clark and Martinez were right there with him. The Buffaloes other American star, NPB legend Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes, had seen his bat wake up had he had drawn even with Wilson. As had Chiba Lotte Marines shortstop Julio Franco, helped on by a three-homer game against Wilson’s Fighters. Another Marine, Kiyoshi Hatsushiba, had also gone on a tear and also now led Wilson by a homer. It was not looking good, and it would get worse.

It was Brooks’ turn to go on a tear. He hit seven home runs in the month of June, and Tanaka was right there with him with six. Wilson? Two. One on June 4 against the Seibu Lions, and one on June 21 against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Kataoka and Nishiura also struggled, hitting a lone homer apiece. Martinez now had 15, Hatsushiba 13, and others were catching up.

Despite missing a month after attempting an MLB comeback, Orix BlueWave DH Troy Neel was back. By now, the 1996 PL home run champ was nipping at Wilson’s heels with nine homers of his own. But here is where Wilson finally woke up, and the Buffaloes would face his wrath.

Six of Wilson’s nine July home runs would be hit against the Buffaloes. Going into the all-star break, he made one last attempt to make a case by homering in four consecutive games. It didn’t work, and Wilson would be left off the all-star team for the second year in a row.

A couple games after returning from the break, he would take Orix BlueWave ace Koji Noda deep to bring his total up to 20, pulling him even with Domingo Martinez. Yukio Tanaka would also take Noda deep that game… for his lone home run of the month. Now, the only person between Wilson and the PL Home Run lead was Jerry Brooks.

Brooks would hit home runs in the first two games of August. Wilson went “challenge accepted” and rattled off a three-homer game against the Hawks on August 6 to bring them both up to 24. Another multi-homer game against the Hawks on the 15th would give Wilson the PL home run lead for the first time that season, but that lead was far from safe.

By now Martinez, Clark, Norihiro Nakamura, and Yasuo Fujii were all chomping at Wilson’s heels. He just had to keep putting distance between himself and them. What didn’t help was that Jerry Brooks went into a massive slump, not hitting a single home run in September. This allowed pitchers to ignore him and focus on Wilson. Wilson managed to eke out six homers, bringing his total up to 32 but the others were still breathing down his neck. To add to the pressure, the Fighters looked like they just might get their first PL pennant since 1981, as they had closed the gap to the PL leading Seibu Lions.

Alas, the Fighters were completely shut down by the Lions and the last place Chiba Lotte Marines.

Wilson did take Fumiya Nishiguchi deep for hit 33rd home run, but just like 1997, the others were still well within reach. After hitting his 30th homer on October 6, Nakamura had a doubleheader on October 7 to try and get three more. Like Kokubo before him, he could only manage two.

And thus, Wilson would win back-to-back home run crowns. He’d also driven in 124 runs on the year, giving him the PL RBI crown as well. This would finally get him his first PL Best 9 award.

However, there is one other thing that makes this so significant. By wRC+, Wilson is the worst hitter to lead NPB in home runs. His final wRC+ of 112 meant that he was only 12% better than your average hitter. When compared to the other 30-homer men, it’s like night and day.

Nakamura? 129. Clark? 157. Fujii? 151. Martinez? 130.

Even if we expand it to the other league, the only man who hit more homers in all of NPB in 1998, Hideki Matsui, also led all qualified hitters with a 168 wRC+.

The only other NPB-era home run king that remotely comes close is Masaru Uno, who led the CL with 37 home runs in 1984 despite sporting a wRC+ of just 114. His is probably a story for a different platform.

Wilson doesn’t sport the worst wRC+ of any RBI leader though. Jim Traber (1991), Greg “Boomer” Wells (1992) and more recently 2016 Sho Nakata have all led the PL in RBI with worse wRC+ numbers. In fact, Nakata led the PL in RBI with a barely-above-average wRC+ of just 108. This was while playing on a team that featured Shohei Ohtani.

As for WAR, the only player to have led their leagues in homers while putting up less WAR than Wilson (1.7) was 1958 Noboru Aota, who led the league with 22 home runs while only being worth 1.5 WAR, thanks in large part to his atrocious defense and baserunning.

Instead of disparaging Wilson for this. I argue that it should be celebrated. Wilson set out on a personal crusade to prove himself. To show that his 1997 season was no fluke. Despite the forces of nature going against him, Nigel Wilson took on several hitters far better than himself… and won.