Shiggy retires

Jeff · January 23, 2006 at 10:12 am · Filed Under Mariners 

Former Mariner Shigetoshi Hasegawa has announced his retirement.

To call Hasegawa something of a pioneer would be an overstatement, but he was a reasonably important figure in the exchange of baseball talent between Japan and the U.S. Hasegawa wrote a book, “Adjustment,” about adapting to life and baseball in America. This feature by Jim Caple from a while back discusses that.

We were critical of the contract that Shiggy was given after his impressive 2003, but he was always an easy guy to root for. Happy retirement, Shiggy.

[You’d think he would have finished his website before the announcement. But when it’s completed, you’ll be able to read it in Japanese, English or Korean!]

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16 Responses to “Shiggy retires”

  1. Jim Thomsen on January 23rd, 2006 10:25 am

    Shiggy has one of my favorite pitching motions of all time. There’s something gangly and jerky and yet compact and utterly fluid about it all at the same time.

    He was a class act, too.

    One wonders what book-writing endeavors lie in his future.

  2. Jeff on January 23rd, 2006 10:31 am

    “Steroids and the Man: The Inside Story Of How Ryan Franklin Became a Major-League Pitcher.”

    I blame the mono for that one. Back to sleep now.

  3. msb on January 23rd, 2006 10:33 am

    I’m hoping that the M’s invite him to Peoria for ST to help bridge the Johjima transition 🙂

  4. Evan on January 23rd, 2006 11:33 am

    This is one player I would happily give a front-office job. He’d be really useful in helping foreign players adjust to life in Seattle.

    Think of that old Edgar ad. “I took my geoduck to Puyallup.” Shiggy could totally be that guy, but in a less comedic way.

  5. pq on January 23rd, 2006 11:38 am

    Glad to see Shiggy is helping out the Ms even post-retirement. The Jamie comment cracks me up, from :

    I’m in shape since I’ve trained quickly and smoothly. I also spoke with (former Seattle reliever) Shigetoshi Hasegawa to confirm what I have learned about the Mariners pitching staff from videos,” he said…. “I want to talk with pitchers to gain trust. Even if they don’t understand what I say, they’ll know I’m eager to communicate. I’ve heard Jamie Moyer likes wine, so I’ve decided to drink wine too,” Jojima said.

  6. Deanna on January 23rd, 2006 11:53 am

    I always enjoyed when they had the spelling bee thing on the big screen and asked people to spell Hasegawa, and I’d write it out in kanji on my scorecard like “That’s how you spell Hasegawa!”

    (I guess I’ll have to do that schtick this year with Johjima instead)

    And, well, to #4 and #2 — they DID have that commercial a few years ago with Shiggy “translating” Ryan Franklin’s Oklahoman, which I thought was pretty funny. (Though still not quite as funny as the “C’mon, Randy, this is the guy that came up with nicknames like Nellie. And Cammy. And Shiggy.” “Yeah! And Shiggy!” one.)

  7. Jim Thomsen on January 23rd, 2006 11:53 am

    If I had 47 kids like Jamie Moyer, I’d drink a lot of wine, too.

  8. Russ on January 23rd, 2006 12:36 pm

    Best of luck to Shiggy.

    He had a nice career and I enjoyed watching him pitch (most of the time) He did have one heck of season in 2003. I think he may have been the best reliever in baseball that year. When he took over the closing role, he simply stepped up and did an amazing job.

    Jim, I agree with you. He has an odd delivery. That his movement was so herky jerky but the ball came out of his hand so smooth is a strange dichotomy.

  9. terry on January 23rd, 2006 12:41 pm

    #5: Guess I’d suggest buying Jamie a fine bottle would be more endearing than drinking one in front of him 😛

  10. Joe on January 23rd, 2006 12:45 pm

    Drinking lots of wine is one way you end up with 47 kids, too.

    And best wishes to Shiggy in whatever he does.

  11. David J. Corcoran on January 23rd, 2006 1:15 pm

    Good Luck Shiggy. You weren’t that good, but I always rooted hard for you. Hard not to like him.

  12. David J. Corcoran on January 23rd, 2006 1:27 pm

    Yikes. The article about iton the M’s official site was written by Jim Street. I thought he was gone.

  13. pinball1973 on January 23rd, 2006 1:53 pm

    The guy had to retire before getting anything other than an insult here, I sadly note.

    Us Blue Wave fans missed you, Shiggy, but we always pulled for you over there as well. May you enjoy life!

  14. Jeff Nye on January 23rd, 2006 2:12 pm

    “Shiggy is not very good” does not equal “Shiggy is a bad person”.

    You can question his value to the team while not making a value judgement about him as a person.

    This would be something good to keep in mind whenever you read something about a player on this site; with no exceptions that I can think of save Carl Everett, the authors and regular commenters here don’t insult players; they simply make judgements about their value as tools to win a baseball game with.

  15. DMZ on January 23rd, 2006 5:26 pm

    The guy had to retire before getting anything other than an insult here, I sadly note.

    I sadly note that you have no idea what you’re talking about.

    For example, Dave back in http://ussmariner.com/?p=379:

    Shigetoshi Hasegawa has been a revelation. He comes in, throws strikes, doesn’t allow home runs, and gets people out. His 0.77 ERA is remarkable, but when coupled with his strikeout rate of just over 4 batters per 9 innings, it’ downright astonishing. We can’t expect this kind of performance to continue, but we’ll be glad we have it now. Besides, Shiggy is just a cool guy.

  16. uglybitch on January 24th, 2006 7:20 am

    Goodbye, Shiggy. I’ll miss your wide, infectious grin and the way you freaked batters out in 2003. Man that was fun to watch! I hope you find new creative outlets. Coaching Johjima sounds like an appropriate gig! 😉

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