World Baseball Classic: Japan’s pepper grinder celebration, explained
By Mark Powell
Japan has debuted a pepper grinder celebration, which took the World Baseball Classic by storm. How did it come about? Thanks Lars Nootbaar.
Shohei Ohtani was the first to make said celebration go viral in Japan.
During the country’s World Baseball Classic tune-up, Ohtani hit a three-run homer from one knee — doing his best Adrian Beltre impression — and then turned to his own dugout to grind some pepper. Yes, really.
Ohtani is far from the first to use this celebration, of course. Lars Nootbaar of the St. Louis Cardinals made it up, using it as an expression for St. Louis fans whenever the Cards could ‘grind’ together a few hits.
Japan pepper grinder celebration, explained
“We wanted a little hit celebration, something to do,” Nootbaar told reporters after the exhibition game. “We didn’t really know what to come up with. And so he said, ‘Whatever I go out there and do first, that’s what we’re gonna roll with.’ So, I went out [and got a hit] in the first inning, we got the pepper grinder out there. And you know, we kind of stuck with it.”
Nootbaar’s become a global trend setter, in part thanks to Ohtani and Japan. Nootbaar is a member of the Japanese team, but plays his professional baseball with the Cardinals. The World Baseball Classic offers Nootbaar a chance to improve upon what had been a disappointing 2022 season by his standards.
“You get caught in the rat race of the season, and you try to take it chunk by chunk, but for me I just needed to take a step back and go pitch-by-pitch. That’s all I can do. That’s all I can focus on, this next pitch,” Nootbaar said in September. “A lot of times during a season, you don’t think logically. It takes a little bit of time to step back, take a breath and know everything’s alright. Obviously that wasn’t where I wanted to start.”
Much has changed since then, and a critical role for one of the favorites in the WBC gives Nootbaar a chance to head back to America in good spirits once the tournament ends.
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