In 1954, when Katsuya Nomura signed with the Nankai Hawks (present-day Softbank Hawks), the baseball club's manager said, “I took him in, thinking he’d at least come in useful as a ‘kabe ...

Katsuya Nomura, a hall of fame catcher who belted 657 home runs and rejuvenated careers through his data-driven strategies as a manager, died of ischemic heart failure in Tokyo on Feb. 11 ...