Terry Bross

Though he pitched three seasons for the Swallows (1995-97), 205 cm (6'9") hurler Terry Bross is best remembered for his "rookie" outing. Joining Yakult after a pre-season tryout at the team's spring training camp in Yuma, Arizona, the former basketball center struggled through the opening months of the 1995 season.

Making the team with two pitches, Bross began attempting to throw a curveball, forkball and change-up soon after arriving in Japan. But, as he later admitted, all the experimenting screwed up his release point, and he soon found himself working out of the Yakult bullpen. At the suggestion of one of the team's pitching coaches, the right-hander went back to the basics, concentrating on the fastball and slider that got him the job. With success, he quickly returned to the starting rotation. As he later told John De Bellis of the Asahi Evening News, "Every time I try to become a pitcher and not a thrower I don't do as well."

Locked in a pennant race with Hiroshima and Yomiuri, Bross took the mound September 9 against the Giants and began throwing his best stuff. Except for bouncing an eighth-inning pitch off Yomiuri pinch-hitter Takeshi Omori's left foot, the Texan pitched a nearly perfect game, allowing no hits or walks while striking out ten.

Finishing the season with a 14-5 record and 139 strikeouts while leading the league with a 2.33 ERA, Bross still remained ineligible for the Sawamura award ostensibly because did he pitch over 200 innings. Instead, Japan's version of the Cy Young award went to Masaki Saito who amassed an 18-10 record in 213 innings while compiling 189 strikeouts and 2.70 ERA. Considering the difficulty of coming to a foreign country, getting acclimated to a new baseball environment and pitching a no-hitter in the midst of a pennant race, Bross'es accomplishments easily eclipsed those of Saito. Incidentally, Saito took the loss when the Yakult ace no-hit the Giants.

Following his phenomenal breakthrough season, Bross blew away BlueWave batters in the Japan Series. Picking up two wins, the overpowering hurler earned eleven strikeouts in sixteen innings while only allowing seven walks and posting a 1.13 ERA.

Given such a nearly perfect first year in Japan, about the only direction the hurler could go was down. Probably because of his success a year earlier, Bross escaped being released after the 1996 seasons (teammates Tom O'Malley and Hensley Meulens were not so lucky) despite an unimpressive 7-12 record and a 3.61 ERA. 1997 saw the import slide further.

Sounding tired and weary, by mid-1997 Bross began wearing a list of grievances on his red pinstriped sleeve. The coaches were trying to get him to finesse batters too much. The seven-day rotation left him feeling too strong. A rule barring scheduled pitchers from entering the clubhouse made him feel out of the loop. Manager Nomura gave him too much room for error, leaving him in games even when opponents littered the outfield with hits. On June 26, Bross won his last game of the regular season.

Soon after, the Swallows temporarily demoted him to the minor league squad. Returning after two starts, nothing seemed to change. A late season injury kept him sidelined, and with eight starts in July, August and September, the struggling hurler failed to pick up a single win.

Entering the Japan Series short on pitchers, manager Nomura directed Bross to start game five. Allowing two hits and two walks but no runs, Bross left the game with a pair of strikeouts after four innings. The Swallows went on to win the game 3-0 and clinch the series. After the "doage" (the ritual of throwing the manager up in the air) and other on field photo-ops, Bross headed for the club-house. Before leaving the field, however, he had stripped to his underwear and thrown all but the most private garments into the stands. It was the last time Bross would ever take off a Swallows uniform.

Three weeks later, Yakult released their all-time best foreign pitcher. Nomura later claimed that Bross was not very good at scooping up bunted balls and had an unimpressive pick-off throw.

In his three seasons, Bross accumulated a 28-25 record with 325 strikeouts, 156 walks and a 3.50 ERA. After receiving offers from several Japanese teams, Bross signed a one-year contract with the Seibu Lions for the 1988 season.