Quick, name two horror movie bad guys off the top of your head.
Did you say Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th)? In America, those are easily two of the most famous baddies, because they come from America’s brand of slasher-horror and have been in and out of theaters for nearly 30 years.
In Japan, however, those aren’t the names you’d expect to hear. Instead, if you asked the same question, you might get Sadako (The Ring) and Kayako (The Grudge) in response. That’s the Japanese brand of horror and those two would certainly be the most commonly named bad guys.
Although the two movie industries have their differences, both are certainly keen on making money. So, in America we wound up with “Freddy vs. Jason.” And in Japan, they got “Sadako vs. Kayako.”
And to turn this discussion back to baseball, check out the unusual promotion during the first pitch of the Nippon-Ham Fighters game:
About half way through the cheerleaders’ performance, the Jumbotron fades to the terrifying, but classic static seen in “The Ring,” just before Sadako walks out onto the field. Following that, Kayako enters covered in blood and followed by a young boy who takes a seat near the backstop while Kayako makes her way to the plate.
After shaking off a couple of pitches, Sadako makes her pitch and Kayako grounds one into left field. The wind up and at-bat prep are pretty great in gif form:
This is a crucial moment of our lives pic.twitter.com/NPS68caMx7
— Mr. Yes and 10 others (@mptxt) June 7, 2016
What a strange world we live in, eh?