1. Masanori Murakami didn't debut until the 1964 season.
2. The best also-ran edition of the Giants in that era was probably 1965.
Amazing what you think the brain holds after all these years, then you have to look it up to check it. But I did remember the best runner up Giants was in Murakami's first full year, didn't I?
Having spent a long time in Japan, I do remember there was much consternation when Hideo Nomo first came up, that there would be another 20 year plus drought of Japanese players if he didn't achieve the star status which Murakami reached for but came up short.
Makes more sense. I didn't remember him being on the Series team but was willing to take your word for it. As I recall, he was supposed to 'save the day' but didn't. He was OK, but not stellar.
The best also-ran edition of the Giants in that era was probably 1965.
It seemed to be either the Dodgers or the Cards that came out on top with the Giants perennially second. I especially remember the tragic frustration of watching Mays trying to hit Koufax. Drysdale was good, but Koufax... It sucked. :-)
I always had this schizophrenic impression of Japanese baseball, that they were better as teams than we wanted to think we were, but then, when they got here they didn't do that well as individuals. Very different from the Cuban stars.