Victor Starfin

Starfin’s White Russian parents fled to the Japanese island of Hokkaido following the Russian Revolution. When the first Japanese professional league was organized in 1936, young Starfin was promptly recruited. At 6’4″ 230-lb, he was the biggest player in Japan for many years, and reputedly threw the hardest. With Eiji Sawamura, and later Takehiko Bessho, Starfin gave the Yomiuri Giants the best one-two pitching combinations in Japanese baseball for nearly 20 years.