Major League Baseball is great. The game is laid back and fun if no one complains about the rules and Nick Castellanos isn't at the plate. I don't think I could enjoy it any more. Never mind. Tsuyoshi Shinjo is the manager of the Nippon-Ham Fighters. The Dos Equis guy was put to shame by him. A baseball manager is riding a hovercraft. How can you not think that is the best thing ever? Shinjo is the only thing cooler than the entrance. The man was the first Japanese-born baseball player to play in a World Series. Shinjo played for the San Francisco Giants in 2002. He slashed.235/.289/.372. Shinjo didn't let his career fade into obscurity despite only playing three seasons in MLB. Shinjo became a celebrity after returning to Japan. He started a fashion line, won the Japanese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and won the Japan Series title in his final baseball game. He has earned a number of titles across Japan, such as Mr. Two and Spaceman, for his eccentric personality. Shinjo registered his name as Big Boss when he was named the team's manager. Shinjo entered the game on opening day.
The man had spotlights on him. Four! Shinjo was 30 feet in the air above the diamond less than a week after I saw the hovercraft. Shinjo should be in a game by the end of the season.
I've seen some cool MLBReliever entrances. Watching AC/DC's Hells Bells play in the background at San Diego's Petco Park was one of my favorite childhood memories. The cart was cool for a while, but then it became like a relative at Thanksgiving and overstayed its welcome. It got wet quickly.
Major League Baseball has had difficulty drawing in younger fans for a while now, and Shinjo has put on a show for them that is straight up cool. No denying that. It doesn't matter if you don't like baseball or not, hovercrafts are awesome, and that might convince some younger Japanese viewers to give baseball a try.
I would be happy to take Shin for stealing the spotlight or making it about himself.
Shinjo's Fighters are 0-5 so far this season and haven't even played in a one-run game. I am writing about the Fighters, not the SoftBank Hawks, so who is really the winner in this situation?
I'm saying that MLB could use a little bit of this flair. Nobody outside of Pittsburgh cares about the Pirates. They have some promising young stars in Bryan Reynolds, Ke,Bryan, and Oneil Cruz, but nobody is excited to see them play. Imagine if the Pirates had a firework display and a marching band behind them when they opened their home season on April 12. The Pirates might lose that game, but you can bet I'm watching every moment of the rest of the series.
Will it ever happen? No, absolutely not, but it would be fun, and that's a word that doesn't get thrown around a lot when talking about the current state of Major League Baseball.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
