The former Montreal Expos outfielder took Tiger Jeet Singh down with a home run chop, pinned him to the mat and celebrated with his trademark cheer of "Banzai!"
Cromartie, who became a fan favorite in Japan when he played for the Yomiuri Giants, teamed with Japan's Ryoji Sai on Sunday to take on Singh and An Joenosuke in an event called Hustle Aid.
"It was more difficult than I thought," Cromartie said. "It was a good challenge and it was great to see all those Giants fans in the crowd."
Wearing a baseball uniform that had "Samurai Man" written on the front and his old No. 49 on the back, Cromartie strode into the ring carrying a baseball bat.
Thanks to Jon and Phil and numerous others who have an unquenchable thirst for "former Expo turned wrestler" stories.
Cromartie turned up here in Santa Barbara a few months ago during the Santa Barbara Film Festival, which was premiering a film "Season of the Samurai", about a Japanese team (without a home base here) that he took on the road as a traveling (read "barnstorming") team in some independent minor league. I was alerted to the film by someone on a Dodger blog and went down to see it. Cromarty is quite a character, larger than life, who became the star of the film. He also particiapted in an on-stage discussion as was much the same there. See the film if you get the chance.
2: Hey! I was there at that screening! While the movie wasnt perfect (by any means), it was still very entertaining and i enjoyed it plenty. Cromartie was definitely the star of the film, thou the entire (almost rotating) Samurai team was very fun to watch and root for. Hopefully it will be available for people to watch sometime soon!
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