Photo by Japan Times
Former Mets outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo made his managerial debut on Friday morning for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. While the Ham Fighters would end up losing the game when former Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis hit an eight inning grand slam, Shinjo started and stole the show with his entrance.
Shinjo, 50, recently changed his registered name with the Nippon Professional Baseball League to Big Boss, meaning that is what the back (and sometimes friend as seen in the video) jersey would say and that’s how he should be referred to.
It’s Opening Day in Japan, here’s how Nippon Ham Fighters Big Boss Tsuyoshi Shinjo entered his first game.
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) March 25, 2022
The music, the light-up jersey, and just the overall energy that Shinjo brought in his entrance was amazing and a real treat to watch. Following the entrance, Shinjo also was featured in the ceremonial first pitch when he posed as the batter. Shinjo though, instead of letting the ball be caught by the catcher, sbanned the ball himself and ran it out to the person that threw it.
Tsuyoshi Shinjo, before his first regular-season game as manager, stood in the box for the first pitch ceremony, then caught the ball and ran to the mound to give it to the first pitcher. We're in the Big Boss Era. pic.twitter.com/KUtUcmbwRZ
— Jason Coskrey (@JCoskrey) March 25, 2022
Important to note that Shinjo did all of this in the opposing teams park and had both teams laughing!
Shinjo was known as an entertaining, off-the-wall player even in his short three-year major league stint between the Mets and Giants in the early 2000s. He then went back to Japan to play baseball for a couple more seasons before retiring from playing.
After his retirement, Shinjo went more into the pure entertainment route. He was model, had his own clothing line, and even won the top prize on the Japanese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
In November of last year, Shinjo was announced as the Ham Fighters manager and he immediately told the media that he wished to be called the Big Boss. He would go on to wear Prada shoes to practice, show up in a Lamborhini, and right into practice on a motorized scooter.
If you get a chance to read the replies or quote tweets of video from Shinjo’s entrance you will see American baseball fans begging for Major League Baseball to be more fun. For Major League Baseball to stop worrying about archaic unwritten rules and remember that baseball can be fun. Instead of worrying about pitch clocks and ghost runners, MLB should really focus on how they can make the game appeal to more folks and it certainly looks like FUN is the way to go.
