, also known as , is a former Japanese professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and current manager for the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a ...

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB). Born on January 28, 1972, Shinjo is the second Japanese-born

position player In baseball, a position player is a player who on defense plays as an infielder, outfielder, or catcher. In Major League Baseball (since 1973 in the American League and since 2022 in the National League), there is also a designated hitter, who ba ...

to play a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(and the first in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

) game and was the first Japanese-born player to appear in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

Career

Born in Tsushima,

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...

, Japan and raised in Minami-ku,

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, he played for the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

in Japan from until , then for

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

. In , he became the first Japan-born player to play in the

, where he went 1 for 6 with three strikeouts. He ended his three-year stint in American baseball by being demoted to AAA after hitting .193 for the first half of the 2003 season. He returned to Japan and played for the

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a s ...

from until . He is known for his flamboyance, colorful wristbands, dyed hair, and a unique hop as he catches the ball. His uniqueness has endeared him to baseball fans and has made him one of the most popular players in the Japanese leagues despite not being in the echelon of elite active players. In fact, his popularity was what kept him off the bench during his stint with the Tigers when manager

Katsuya Nomura was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) catcher and manager. During his over 26-season playing career mostly spent with the Nankai Hawks (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks), he became one of NPB's greatest offensive catchers. He was award ...

tried to turn him into a pitcher on the rotation rather than risk his team with his mediocre play. Shinjo ended his career in storybook fashion. Playing for years on losing teams in Hanshin and despite playing in the

2002 World Series The 2002 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s 2002 season. The 98th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Anaheim Angels and the National Leag ...

alongside Giants legend

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

, Shinjo showed emotion and shed tears as his final game crowned him a champion as he was a member of the Fighters squad that won their first

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

title since 1962 with a 4 games to 1 series win over the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

. As Shinjo took the field for the top of the ninth inning in the final game, he was given a standing ovation from the home crowd. Before the inning began, he was visibly emotional. Although the final play was only close to him (

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

Hichori Morimoto caught the final ball) the cameras all showed only Shinjo's dramatic reaction. Traditionally, the players toss the manager in the air for series wins first, but the players tossed Shinjo in the air first instead of manager

Trey Hillman Thomas Brad "Trey" Hillman (born January 4, 1963) is an American professional baseball coach. He has also served as the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan's Pacific League, the Kansas City Royals in the American League and the SK ...

. Shinjo is now a television

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

in Japan as well as a model for his own line of clothing. He has also won the maximum 10,000,000 JPY prize in a celebrity edition of the Japanese version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'', '' Kuizu $ Mirionea''. In October, 2021,

announced Shinjo will be the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for the upcoming season. With his hiring, this gave him the nickname, "Big Boss" or "Big Boss Shinjo" by fans, due to his celebrity status and his fun, over the top, unorthodox, clubhouse atmosphere. He was also hired by the Fighters to replace longtime manager Hideki Kuriyama, who became the manager of Samurai Japan at the end of the season. The success of the nickname made him register himself as BIGBOSS, and on March 24, 2022, just a few days before Opening Day, NPB officially approved BIGBOSS as his registered name for the 2022 season. During the current 2022 season, Shinjo became well known for entering the field in a home game against the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

in a

hoverbike A hoverbike (or hovercycle) is a vehicle that can hover, resembling a flying motorbike, having at least two propulsive portions—one in front of and one behind the driver. Aeronautic motors Starting in 2014, Malloy Aeronautics has been developin ...

. He also entered his first ever home game as manager, as

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...

described it, "straight out of wrestling". He also showed up to spring training in a three wheeled motorcycle. He also has his own jersey with his registered name replacing the nameplate of the Fighters.

MLB stats

Japanese baseball stats

References

External links

*
Tsuyoshi Shinjo, JapaneseBallPlayers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shinjo, Tsuyoshi 1972 births Brooklyn Cyclones players Hanshin Tigers players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters managers Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Japanese expatriates in Indonesia Japanese racehorse owners and breeders Living people Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Japan Managers of baseball teams in Japan New York Mets players Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Baseball people from Fukuoka (city) Baseball people from Nagasaki Prefecture San Francisco Giants players

Career

MLB stats

Japanese baseball stats

See also

References

External links