Victor Starffin

Victor Starffin (Viktor Konstantinovich Starukhin), a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, was born 1 May 1916 and died 12 January 1957. Born in Nizhny Tagil, in the Urals region of the Russian Empire, he left Russia with his family after the Russian Revolution, moving first to Harbin, Manchuria, and eventually settling in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō. There he attended Asahikawa Higashi High School. Initially bullied because he was not Japanese, Starukhin studied the language thoroughly. He was also notably athletic: he stood six feet (180 cm) by the age of eleven, and could win a 100-meter dash even when his classmates were given a 20-meter head start.

Known as "the blue-eyed Japanese" (aoi-me no Nihonjin), Starffin became the first professional pitcher in Japan to win 300 games. He compiled 83 career shutouts, which ranks first all-time in Japanese professional baseball.