LOS ANGELES -- As Yoshinobu Yamamoto sat in front of his locker in the home clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, a few of his teammates approached him, holding pens and Tuesday's giveaway item, a Yoshi bobblehead. They wanted Yamamoto's signature on the lovable green dinosaur who shares part of his name.
Yamamoto happily obliged, inking his signature and No. 18 on the side of Yoshi's bulbous snout.
Baseball players: They're just like us.
For one night, Dodger Stadium turned into Yoshi's Island as the team gave away a special bobblehead featuring Yoshi of Nintendo's Super Mario franchise fittingly wearing a home Yamamoto jersey, a crossover that made too much sense not to happen. The giveaway was a collaboration with "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," which will be released in the U.S. on Wednesday.
Demand was high, as fans lined up outside the ballpark hours before first pitch in order to secure one of the 40,000 Yoshi bobbleheads that were handed out. Dodgers players didn't have to worry about arriving early to stake their claim, but for some of them, their bobbleheads will be that much more special for bearing Yamamoto's signature.
It's not unheard of for players to sign one another's bobbleheads, especially when the player depicted is as accomplished as Yamamoto, who was a three-time Eiji Sawamura Award winner and a three-time Pacific League MVP in Nippon Professional Baseball before signing with the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season. Since coming to L.A., the 27-year-old right-hander has added two-time World Series champion and '25 World Series MVP to his growing list of accolades.
Yoshi doesn't have those same achievements to his name, but he's certainly had his fair share of success on the Mario Kart circuit. Perhaps that will be Yamamoto's next step once his decorated baseball career comes to a close.