I was surprised this week to see that pitcher Jay Jackson, the track of whose pro career looks like a Lonely Planet travelogue, has announced his retirement from baseball.
Jackson left a huge impression everywhere he went, suffered some heart-breaking trauma and led me down an important path of discovery into the nature of Japanese baseball.
After ostensibly retiring at least once before, Jackson, who was drafted out of Furman University by the Cubs in 2008 and also played in the minors for the Marlins, Pirates and Brewers before reaching America’s majors with the Padres in 2015 and Japan’s with the Carp the following year.
Jackson found himself a home in Hiroshima, where he made an impact on not only his teammates, like Allen Kuri, who credited Jackson with helping him find a more natural delivery, but also on local citizens, with whom he worked to create a clothing brand.
After Jackson’s Japanese partner gave birth to a son, things started to get weird. He was released in 2018 after his third season despite striking out more than one batter an inning in each of his three seasons. Granted, it wasn’t a great season for Jackson, but less reliable pitchers were getting employed by other teams when despite his good reputation with other players, couldn’t even get a tryout.
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