Chiba Lotte’s Laird shows his “family off-shot” that is too funny.

At dusk on August 9, a foreign family was walking amicably on a street near Roppongi Hills in Minato Ward, Tokyo. It was not an unusual sight, given the location, but the father’s thick-chested physique made people look back at him as they passed by. The man was Brandon Laird, 35, of the Chiba Lotte Marines.

He is one of those foreign baseball players who didn’t have much success in the majors, but has blossomed since coming to Japan and fits the typical Japanese style of baseball. He joined Nippon Ham and started playing in the ’15 season. He loves sushi, and his pose of holding sushi when he hits a home run was very popular and won the hearts of Sapporo fans.’ He became a mainstay of the team, winning the home run crown with 34 home runs in ’15 and 39 in ’16.” He moved to Chiba Lotte in ’19 and became the mainstay of the team.’ He hit 29 homers in 2009.

The team was off that day. Laird, who is known as a loving wife and a devoted father to his children, chose to go shopping in Roppongi for a family day, and the three of them walked around the streets of Roppongi as if taking a stroll. When his little son occasionally struck a pose as if swinging a bat, Laird would say something to him. Each time he would say, “Like this?” his son would move his body and say, “Yes. That’s good!

This season, Lotte will end the season in the B class for the first time in three years. One of the reasons for that was a string of departures of foreign players, and Laird was no exception: he bounced back and forth between the first and second teams, finishing the season with a .189 batting average and 15 home runs. On October 3, it was reported that he had returned to Japan.

Perhaps this will be his last family shot in Japan. As a fan, I would love to see him hit his memorial arch at a ballpark somewhere in Japan next season….