Editing Nippon Professional Baseball (section)

==Expatriate baseball players in Japan==
{{main|American expatriate baseball players in Japan}}
For most of its history, NPB regulations imposed "[[gaijin]] waku", a limit on the number of non-Japanese people per team to two or three—including the manager and/or coaching staff.<ref name = gaijin>{{cite web|url = http://japanesebaseball.com/faq/gaijin.jsp |title = Foreign Player Restrictions?|website = Japanese Baseball }}</ref> Even today, a team cannot have more than four foreign players on a 25-man game roster, although there is no limit on the number of foreign players that it may sign. If there are four, they cannot all be pitchers nor all be position players.<ref name = gaijin/> This limits the cost and competition for expensive players of other nationalities, and is similar to rules in many European sports leagues' roster limits on non-European players.

Nonetheless, [[expatriate]] baseball players in Japan have been a feature of the [[Professional baseball in Japan|Japanese professional leagues]] since 1934. Hundreds of foreigners—particularly Americans—have played NPB. [[Taiwanese people|Taiwanese]] nationals [[Shosei Go]] and [[Hiroshi Oshita]] both starred in the 1940s. American players began to steadily find spots on NPB rosters in the 1960s. American players hold several NPB records, including highest single-season batting average ([[Randy Bass]], .389), and the dubious record of most strikeouts in a season by a hitter ([[Ralph Bryant]], 204). Americans rank #4 ([[Tuffy Rhodes]], 55) and #7 ([[Randy Bass]], 54) on the list of most home runs in a season, and #2 in single-season RBI ([[Bobby Rose (baseball)|Bobby Rose]], 153). [[Curaçaoan]]&ndash;[[Dutch people|Dutch]] outfielder [[Wladimir Balentien]] holds the NPB single-season home run record with 60 round-trippers in 2013.

Koreans have had an impact in the NPB as well, including such standout players as [[Lee Seung-yuop]], [[Sun Dong-yol]], [[Baek In-chun]], [[Lee Jong-beom]], and [[Dae-ho Lee]]. [[Venezuelan people|Venezuelans]] [[Alex Ramírez]], [[Alex Cabrera]], [[Bobby Marcano]], and [[Roberto Petagine]] all had long, successful NPB careers. The Dominican third baseman [[José Fernández (third baseman)|José Fernández]] played eleven years in the NPB, compiling a .282 batting average with 206 home runs and 772 runs batted in.

Many of the most celebrated foreign players came to Japan after not finding success in the [[Major League Baseball|Major Leagues]]; see "[[Big in Japan (phrase)|Big in Japan]]".

Since the 1970s, foreigners have also made an impact in Nippon Professional Baseball's managing and coaching ranks, with Americans [[Bobby Valentine]] and [[Trey Hillman]] managing their respective teams to [[Japan Series]] championships.