How a Disappointing Baseball Player Inspired a Japanese Art Movement - The Story of Gary Thomasson

Every offseason, like clockwork, something happens. A player of some standing in MLB signs in Japan, and people say they’re going to dunk.
Without fail. The player could be a AAA stud, the player could be a guy with a few MLB seasons under his belt. 8 times out of 10, these people are wrong. Especially in recent years.
Most of the time, players like that are forgotten. Consinged to the history books and remembered only by those who watched them, or found them while digging through a database.
But some, some gain a legacy in Japanese slang. One such player is Gary Thomasson
Outro Song:
• 超芸術トマソン／モルグモルマルモ Hype...
Morg Molmalmo's Spotify: open.spotify.c...
Patreon: / gaijinbaseball
Twitter: x.com/GaijinBa...

[@GaijinBaseball]

I KNOW I PRONOUNCED VIDA BLUE'S NAME WRONG. Don't make me set up an auto-delete filter. The point has been made and acknowledged multiple times. You aren't contributing to the conversation, you're just dogpiling. Chogeijutsu Thomasson - Morg Molmalmo kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYmsY52Mrr5qn9ksi=lFhV9EW6ToPEm2pw MISTAKES: 1. I know I pronounced Vida Blue's name wrong, you can stop commenting it now. I know who he is, I had just never heard his name spoken before. It's a 2 second bit it doesn't "ruin the whole video". If it bothers you that much I suggest you rethink your priorities in life. Longtime watchers of the channel know I made the same mistake with Bill Veeck. 2. Reggie Smith's slugging was .573

[@ancestralFromWesnoth]

All good, my dude! The video is still awesome!

[@umbraemilitos]

Comments increase engagement. As annoying as it is to be dogpiled, it might help if you think of it as a booster.

[@SIGuy7480]

love learning about obscure players

[@foxyfoxington2651]

He may have been average... But name another baseball player that has an art movement named after him.

[@kochan1147]

Japanese Baseball culture has a huge influence of Japanese culture/net culture like Mike Greenwells "神のお告げ" or the "Revelation from God", a slang like "ンゴ" which you use when someone/something makes a grave mistake coming from Domingo Guzman, or "クレメンス" and "マダックス" coming from Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux which i dont even think people who use it know that it originates from 2chan baseball threads, its fascinating.

[@stevemeters3090]

I'm sorry, could you explain that again. I think I didn't quite grasp it.

[@josebourdeth8919]

@@stevemeters3090 yeah what did they said about Roger Clemens or Gregg Maddux?

[@davidfife1547]

Yeah now I wanna know more

[@moderateatberkeley]

@@josebourdeth8919Clemens in Japanified transliteration starts with “kure” which means “do” as in “do this for me.” This caught on with Japanese baseball netizens on 2chan. A “Maddux” in 2chan baseball lingo is to throw a complete game shutout in fewer than 100 pitches.

[@kochan1147]

@@josebourdeth8919 there's 2 times to use it and one is the already widely used pitching under 100 pitches and the other is when you ask if something is ready coming from the word "まだ(pronounced Mada)" which basically means "ready yet?" and the name Maddux is pronounced "Madakkusu", basically using the pronunciations of players and changing them into slang.

[@Cletus_the_Elder]

This is a deep, deeeep cut. Wonderful storytelling.

[@ChrisD123]

Fascinating video, keep up the outstanding work you do on this channel. I love the shorter videos highlighting some of the more unusual stories from Japanese baseball history.

[@NextLevelNugz]

Vyda not veeda . You must be young.good job.

[@Sirin2099]

Fascinating how sports and culture intercede.

[@45scienceproject]

I met David MacKinnon playing minor league ball in the Angels system 2 or three years ago or so. The guy mashes and is an awesome dude. Too bad that he keeps getting fucked around by ballclubs on both sides of the pond. Anyway, I fucking love David MacKinnon.

[@GaijinBaseball]

Mac's a great dude, interacted with him a lot on Twitter last year. Sucks that he got let go, but I'm enjoying watching the reckoning that's coming for Lions GM Hisanobu Watanabe. The Lions are literally having the worst season in franchise history atm

[@juanjosesanchezbracamontes]

Wow you are very clever! Kudos

[@Vntagonist]

so glad i got recommended this video. ive been wanting to learn more about japanese baseball after becoming a fan of shunsuke watanabe, but found it difficult to learn much about how the npb culture is and how it compares to mlb. im very surprised that your channel hasnt blown up yet, as your videos are very engaging in how they are structured, and your commentary is very well spoken and easy to follow. thank you for these high quality in depth videos, i cannot wait to binge the rest of your vids 🙏 go marines 😛

[@bobbyclemente21]

Read any Robert Whiting book about yakyuu and you'll learn a lot about Japanese culture and mindset.

[@weirddingus4620]

That is fucking brutal lmao

[@chesthoIe]

Thanks, now if a Japanese person ever shows me a photo of a broken telephone pole, I can be all, "That's a Shinzo Abe Tomlinson!" and be wrong, but close enough hopefully.

[@HKim0072]

Kinda wish Thomasson would embrace it and hook up with the photographer.

[@GaijinBaseball]

Sadly Genpei passed away back in 2014

[@donturner-rz5ox]

Hitting a curve ball is a lot harder than taking photos of crappy architecture.

[@derek_li]

Hey I'm from Toronto too! Keep up the good work!

[@notsure5840]

vestigial... ah! but you can't market that!

[@josephhouk6703]

So what does Thomasson think of Thomasson?

[@heathmcrigsby]

Jack Elliot was my all time favorite gaijin ball player

[@soccch]

7:05 Reggie Smith's stats don't look quite right to me. How does he have an OBP of .379 and a SLG of .409, but his OPS is .952?

[@GaijinBaseball]

His slugging was .573, my bad

[@redroninx289]

Is that music from Yakuza 0 I hear?

[@GaijinBaseball]

Yep, I use it a lot whenever I'm covering the 70s and 80s

[@josephbcarter]

You mispronounced Vida. Clean it up bro!

[@GaijinBaseball]

It's funny how this 2 second part that is irrelevant to the video at large is the thing everyone is complaining about. I know who Vide Blue is, I know I got it wrong. I wish people would read the pinned comment before commenting the same thing ad nauseum.

[@nightguardian812]

Wow 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@unclesox]

Found this video through your twitter account which I follow. What drew me to watch this was that I have a co-worker who says Gary Thomasson is his cousin, although he has never met him. My co-worker friend, who doesn't follow much baseball, only knew that Thomasson played for the SF Giants. He was unaware that he had won a World Series with the Yankees until I told him. So he was quite surprised when I added that his cousin also played in Japan. He'll probably get a kick when I tell him about this video. Interesting stuff. Keep up the great work. I've been following NPB for about 4-5 years now. I know very little about its history and am eager to learn.

[@bobbyclemente21]

1) I've never heard anyone pronounce Vida as vee-duh. 2) I used to pronounce Yomiuri like you did, but no Japanese ever did, i.e. with the mi sound when they drop it and it's just yo-mu-ree. 3) That telephone pole cut off wasn't, that pole is there to protect what's behind it, heh heh. But thanks for the history lesson! That's cold that Thomasson's name was used like that.

[@daegueric]

Very nice storytelling. One of the players you mention in this is David McKinnon, who landed in Korea after playing in Japan. My apartment is about 3 miles from Samsung Lions ballpark. He's at 1b. Lions are contending in KBO, and that hasn't been the case for some time. Cheers from Daegu

[@martinzaehringer1697]

Here is my Gary Thomasson story: Back in either '79 or '80, me and three or four of my friends - all in our young 20s - would go to the Dodger games every evening and sit in the left field bleachers. The bleacher seats cost about $2.50 and at that time the left field bleachers didn't serve alcohol. So the ushers didn't have to deal with drunk jerks. We were there so much we got to know a few of the usherettes, one of whom was a beautiful blonde named Mary. She was a student at Orange Coast Community College and we all had a crush on her, and probably annoyed her too much, but she was gracious about it (also, back then, the outfits for the usherettes were short, blue miniskirts. Sigh . . . ). When Thomasson played, it was generally centerfield and if the outfield was shifting he was close enough to the edge of the bleachers that we could call out to him. Sometimes he talked back to us; other times he talked to the usherettes. But as a player, he struck out a lot. One night we were giving him some crap about whiffing so much and Mary walked up to us and said, "Hey, knock it off. He's my boyfriend." Oops. At that point we realized none of us would ever have a chance with her. I wonder if they ever got married.

[@Bongo_Fury]

Thomasson-san

[@zttz]

Veeda Blue

[@TheBrainSpecialist]

The amount of people who don't know how to read the fucking pinned comment is ASTOUNDING

[@adammunro4202]

Love the Eastern Ave spot, always was curious about that bridge, thanks man!

[@MrGuano11]

Brutal

[@canadaclaret]

Vida Blue rhymes with side a glue.

[@ancestralFromWesnoth]

Yep. VYE-da Blue. And, I would assume “Thomasson” is just like “Thomas-son” (TOM-as-son) as opposed to what you’re saying, “TOME-ahs-sun”. (But I do get it, as that’s how the Japanese would pronounce his name.)

[@GaijinBaseball]

I know. I acknowledged it in the pinned comment. Of course I know who he is, I'd never heard his name spoken before. I wish people would actually read it.

[@canadaclaret]

@@GaijinBaseball your video is very well done. That little mistake is not really important. I know a woman called Vida who spells her name the same as Blue but pronounces it the way you did. I am not really a baseball fan, more interested in art, but as a kid I liked Blue and some other guys like Roberto Clemente and Joe Morgan... Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter...

[@SaltyPalamite]

Lol! It's not pronounced "VEE-da" Blue. It's "VYE-da" (like "eye") Blue.

[@paulkang6842]

Unexpectedly interesting given that I don't follow baseball. For others in the same boat, the video gets to the point at around 8:00

[@buzzawuzza3743]

excellent video, well done

[@echos-myron]

The channel name alone gets a sub; 100% in my wheelhouse. ❤

[@DKC_Returns]

You and @WrestlingColin would get along

[@viva_la_mort]

*Disappointing / Disappointment 👍

[@tedharrington5432]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnzdq2turrd5d9U Is that a song dedicated to Gary Thomasson

[@liammcooper]

I knew about the counterfeit money, but I had no idea Akasegawa's connection with baseball. Fascinating.

[@TheKazzerscout]

Yakuza music, good choice.

[@nickselk6250]

The fact you have less than 10k subs is mind boggling. You deserve many, many more. I wish I had found this channel sooner, but better late than never.

[@v4ance]

You need to read Virtual Light by William Gibson. You'll get a kick out of the Thomasson ...

[@bibbytenbillion]

hey man you accidentally spelled "disappointing" with only one 'p' in your title

[@harrym6705]

Good on you for sticking your for Thomasson at the end. Cool video!

[@fredbobberts5753]

Warren Cromartie- was a player and learned the language Randy Bass (Bass-O). Threatened Oh’s season record and helped Hanshin win in 1985. Robert Rose- second baseman for last great Yokohama team. Felix Milan - good player for 70s whales. And there are many modern good players.

[@bobbyclemente21]

Basu-sama, never heard him called that.

[@scottl.1568]

Whut

[@softballhumanoid]

This. Is. Fantastic. ❤❤❤

[@stevemeters3090]

Is this channel related to Foolish Baseball?

[@derkaiserzen]

no

[@TheBrainSpecialist]

Nah, but last I checked Bailey follows him on Twitter

[@snellbeast_jasonsnell]

Amazing!!! Thank you!

[@paulmcmillen5925]

I'm very audio and I couldn't help notice the background music. As you were giving the chronological events during Thomasson baseball career I was distracted by the incongruent rock music (particularly the vocals) and I almost exited. However, as I was listening to the part about the photo artist Genpei, I didn't immediately notice that the background music had changed. I was caught up in this discussion of these photos that were oddly humourous and at the same time "sentimental". For a minute or so I hadn''t realized that the background music had turned into a spacey instrumental and I thought, "Oh, this is cool". Altogether, the entire art segment was very engaging. Well done, sir!

[@tnteves]

Hey man I love your work, keep it up

[@wesleykelly7226]

Heyy I didn’t know you’re Canadian! Love for your channel from Ottawa! 🇨🇦

[@skyclarking-123]

Great story. Great channel. ⚾️

[@anarken1598]

8:46 nah wait hold up that sounds interesting

[@1977TA]

The average person simply does not grasp how enormously difficult it is to not only become an MLB player but become one who rises above obscurity. Thousands of promising players have come and gone, their names likely lost to history. You could make an entire video series about forgotten prospects going as far back as the 1960s. There are young guys playing right now who will never step foot on an MLB field. There are others who get called up but linger on the 40-man roster seeing little if any action before they get sent back down to the minors. Speaking of the 40-man roster, most people think a minor league player getting called up to a big-league parent team means that player has made it. Nothing could be further from the truth. The call up lands the player on the 40-man roster. If there are no available spots a current player on the 40-man roster must be designated for assignment to make room for the new player. Designated for assignment players are basically on their way back to the minors. Once a player makes the 40-man roster her will have 3 years to prove he is good enough for a starting job. A fourth year may be granted under certain circumstances.

[@tommayrant2279]

Amazingly sublime video!

[@JurassicParker13]

Really great video

[@bookaufman9643]

That's not how you say Vida Blue. The " I" is pronounced like the word eye.😊

[@GaijinBaseball]

I know. I acknowleged the fact that I got it wrong in the pinned comment.

[@bookaufman9643]

@@GaijinBaseball sorry but I didn't see it. Light a blue was an amazing picture. For a while in the early seventies he was considered almost unhittable. He was also a pretty weird dude.

[@Preeeemo]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4bUZKWYhZWjg5Ysi=xw8iBJqpqNyEHN20&t=529 The large block of text at the timestamp really broke the flow of the video (imo). Nice video otherwise!

[@Whomever209]

Neat video. Why do Brazilian players often end up with the Yakult Swallows?

[@Vyc74]

It's a neat story acually, the Swallows had a partnership with the CBBS (Brazilian Baseball and Softball Confederation) in the 80's. The Swallows wanted a warm place to practice during the offseason and the brazilian national squad needed a training center, so they got together and made it happen. Just google "Ibiúna CT Yakult", Ibiúna being the city where it was built, about a couple hours drive from São Paulo and CT short for Training Center in portuguese

[@jritechnology]

New York City and small town America has TONS of Thomasson style art just ripe for the plucking....especially in the 1980's with tech movement going faster and faster.

[@ldr4690]

Good video, but is there an explanation for why the DAMN PICTURE KEEPS FLOATING AROUND?

[@GaijinBaseball]

My ADHD. If anything's standing still I don't like the way it looks, it feels too stilted. I find It also keeps the viewer focused on the image because our eyes are naturally drawn to movement. I've been doing it for years and I think you might be the first to complain about it. Then again this video has blown up by my standards.

[@jeffreysams3348]

This is awesome!

[@ThatC1official]

I want to learn about Japanese minor league system but can't find a good video

[@GaijinBaseball]

NPB Minor League (aka "ni-gun" lit. "Second Army") teams use the same uniforms as the Major League teams. Instead of the Central League and Pacfic League, they are split into the Eastern and Western League. They play 80 games a year instead of 143. Some teams have a "san-gun" (third army) team that usually plays against indyball clubs.

[@ThatC1official]

@GaijinBaseball thank you, I only known about teams wearing their parent club jerseys but didn't know anything else and didn't know about indy teams outside of shikoku Island plus league

[@reggiebanks7627]

All these people complaining about Vida name. His name is the Spanish word for life. Because he said his name was pronounced in some hi key way doesn’t mean it’s right. VeeDa is the right way. Just like Matt Diaz. My man said pronounce Diaz as Die Az. GTFO here bro. diaz is Spanish for days. SMH

[@texasPITBULL54]

Getting mad about people telling you how to say their name is sad a name can transcend language kinda like we don’t call people George who are named Jorge just because we are speaking English and vis versa the other way. Get over it.

[@TheBrainSpecialist]

​@@texasPITBULL54We used to. Google George Bell. Roberto Clemente was always labelled as "Bob Clemente" during his playing days

[@bobbyclemente21]

Did HE pronounce that way? Did his family? #FAIL

[@texasPITBULL54]

@@bobbyclemente21 just sad I really hope you get the help you need before you hurt yourself or someone else.

[@reggiebanks7627]

So just because he felt he didn’t need to pronounce it the proper way doesn’t make it right. In the grand scheme of things no it doesn’t matter. But it is a Spanish name with Latin roots. There is no debating where the name comes from. You can jazz it up make it up tell people “this and that” but the truth is the truth.

[@88mphs]

Trevor Bauer did well last year

[@GaijinBaseball]

The first segment was about foreign hitters, not pitchers. That's a whole other thing altogether.

[@scoremat]

Jung Who Lee is a major disappointment. KBA superstar but a 4th OFer with no impact and can't steal bases in MLB. Talk about disappointment

[@bobbyclemente21]

Still young, but yeah, they overpaid for him IMO.