Today, on this day of football oversaturation, the Santa Cruz Sentinel wrote an article about John Sipin, the former Padre, Taiyo Whale, and Yomiuri Giant middle infielder. 

Jim Seimas writes:

“In the 1970s, Sipin became a well-known figure not just for his play, but also for his attire. He often wore jackets with wide lapels and bell-bottom pants. Mix that with a grove of facial hair and Sipin stood out.

“In the ’70s, Japan was a black-and-blue country,” Sipin said. “Everyone had a black suit or a blue suit. And they all had clean-shaven heads. I came in there with longer hair and a short, but full, beard. … Sometimes I had a handlebar mustache and that grew into the beard and sideburns.”

When he cut his hair, Taiyo officials told him they preferred his wild side and encouraged him to grow it back. When he did, he was given the nickname “Lion Maru” after the animated title character in the children’s television series “Kaiketsu Lion-Maru.”

(Photo via Yomiuri Giants)

That’s right. At first glance you may wonder what’s so important about the article, but one must remember that the Santa Cruz Sentinel is the newspaper to go to for hard hitting information. And if someone wasn’t out there documenting the history of facial hair in Nippon Professional Baseball, then it would be lost to the sands of time. And that would be a real tragedy.

 (h/t BBTF)

This post is syndicated from Old Time Family Baseball.