Sunday, May 1, 2016

Card Of The Week May 1

In addition to Trey Hillman's talents as a manager, he apparently had also trained as a gymnast.  This was expressed in Japan by occasionally doing backflips, as shown here:

2004 BBM Fighters #F99

I'm curious when this photo was taken.  Hillman's wearing a Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters home uniform so I'm assuming that the photo was taken in Sapporo Dome.  The set is from 2004 which was the first year the Fighters played their home games in Hokkaido.  Giabbit, the mascot for the Yomiuri Giants, is in the background so the obvious suggestion is that the Giants were playing the Fighters.  That may be true, but it must have been an exhibition game as interleague play didn't start in NPB until a year later in 2005.

According to Hillman's Japanese wikipedia page, he did a backflip with the Fighters' mascot BB on Fan Appreciation Day at the end of the 2004 season and hurt some ligaments.  I suspect that put an end to his backflipping days.

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