RIP Animal

Brad "Animal" Lesley passed away last Saturday from kidney failure at age 54.  Lesley spent two years playing in Japan (1986-87 for the Hankyu Braves) and then spent a number of years as a character in a Japanese game show called Takeshi's Castle.  He also did some acting in the early 1990's.

I only have four cards of him with Hankyu and only one of them is from his playing days:

1987 Play Ball #16

2009 BBM Hankyu Memorial #16

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigner #33

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigner "Off Shot" #79

I found a couple YouTube clips of interest.  This one appears to be some music video he did while in Japan (which appears to be what the "Off Shot" card is from):



This one shows him on Takeshi's Castle. I figure that the Australian narration was added later.