The greatest catcher in the history of Japanese baseball, Nomura holds the world record for most games played by a catcher with 2918 over his 27 year career; he also has hit more home runs than any catcher in history with 657 (a total that ranks second to Sadaharu Oh in Japan). Nomura once caught every single inning of a 150 game season, including 16 double headers.

Nomura won nine home run championships (8 in a row), six consecutive RBI titles, and one batting average title. That came in 1965 when he won the triple crown with 42 homers, 110 RBIs, and a .320 batting average. He retired in 1980 and is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.