The annals of the squared circle are chockful of athletes that have migrated from "real" sports to the scripted one. Pro football Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski was once one half of the NWA World Tag Team Champions, Ernie "The Cat" Ladd is a member of both the San Diego Chargers and WWE Halls, Steve McMichael spent time with the Four Horsemen and no one will ever forget Lawrence Taylor's triumphant victory over Bam Bam Bigelow at Wrestlemania XI. Football players making the switch to wrestling makes sense, they have the bodies for it for one thing and the lack of steroid testing helps them keep their muscles bulging long after their playing days are finished.
Most baseball players, on the other hand, don't have quite so easy a switch from diamond to ring. It probably wouldn't surprise anyone if Jose Canseco took up a run at the WWE Title, it's probably crossed his plate at one time or another, and Jason Giambi was starting to look more and more like one of the Road Warriors before leaving for the squeaky clean gang in the Bronx. With those exceptions noted, however, the majority of baseballers aren't making a second career as grapplers. David Eckstein isn't going to sell out arenas and we can all agree that no one needs to see John Kruk in speedos while trying to break out of Ric Flair's dreaded figure four leglock.
We probably wouldn't have thought to add Warren Cromartie to that list, let's be honest it's been a while since any of us thought of the former Expo, and that's a good thing since he's prepared to make us look stupid. Cromartie is notable as one of the few players to go and play in Japan while still a regular in the majors, the Tom Selleck vehicle Mr. Baseball was based on him, and he's going to be making his professional wrestling debut in that country this Sunday.
The former Montreal Expos outfielder who became a fan favorite in Japan will step into the ring Sunday in a pro wrestling event called Hustle Aid. As part of a tag-team match, he'll face an opponent who walks around with a sword in his mouth - and says he wants to hurt Cromartie.
"I have to represent all baseball players," the 53-year-old Cromartie said Tuesday. "I've got a reputation here, I've got my fans in Japan so I'm taking this seriously and have been training real hard."
Told that longtime wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh hopes to injure him, Cromartie hardly flinched. "I'm going to take him out just like on a double play," Cromartie said. "I'm going to go from first to third and take him out with a home run chop."
We're not too sure what that last bit means either but lest you get too worried about Cromartie's safety, be warned that Singh is 63 years young himself and mostly retired from the ring wars. Cromartie will likely be the people's choice in the bout. He played for the Yomiuri Giants for seven seasons including 1989 when he batted .378 with 15 homers and won the MVP of the Japanese Central League. He also played drums for a Japanese band and was known for leading the crowds in cheers of "Banzai!" during his playing days. All that plus the dreaded Home Run Chop should find him on the right side of the pin to end Sunday's match.
(Not surprisingly Gerard at Can't Stop The Bleeding was all over this last week.)
