A Former Major Leaguer Hit A Home Run In The Japanese League And Won Himself A Year's Supply Of Free Beer

YardBarker- Former MLB player Brandon Laird scored a sweet prize on Tuesday in Japan.

Laird, who led Nippon with 34 home runs last season, homered at the Tokyo Dome Tuesday, and his ball hit a Kirin Beer sign. By homering off the sign, Laird won a year’s supply of beer and $10,000.

“I think it’s pretty cool when they tell you if you hit the signs you get a prize like that,” Laird said via the Japan Times. “To actually do it in a game was pretty cool.”
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He says he plans to put the prize money to his home in Arizona, though he’s offering the beer out to others to drink.



Life has been better for Brandon Laird. Sure, he's getting paid to play a kid's game, but he used be doing it in American cities like New York and Houston. Now he's getting paid to play in a unknown land far, far east with a bunch of teammates that are undoubtedly speaking to him in a language that might as well be Swahili. I feel pretty comfortable saying that he didn't envision his career playing out like this. He's still technically a professional baseball player so it's not the worst job in the world, but it's undoubtedly not the best either. 

Well, with one fell swing life in Japan just exponentially more entertaining for our boy Brandon. You know what can make up for a lack of familiarity? Booze. Nothing eases the stress of being in unchartered territory quite like an endless amount of ice cold liquid courage. That unforeseen $10K bonus is probably nice too, but it's that year's supply of Japanese beer that's really going to ingratiate him into the Hokkaido lifestyle. The food? The mannerisms? The city? All second nature as long as he keeps that buzz going. Hell, I'll bet he doesn't even mind taking his shoes off and sitting on his balls to eat as long as you keep those complimentary Kiran's coming. If these Asians had a lick of sense they would get him a Kimono, blast 'Gangham Style', and save themselves the price of after hours entertainment.

​Semi-related, how do the companies that do these promos determine a "year's supply" of something? I know for a fact that my "year's supply" is much larger if I'm not required to pay for that supply. That is especially true if what is being supplied is alcohol. Does he just get a 'Free Beer' card that expires in 365 days or do they actually try to measure it out and send it to him? I certainly hope the ladder is not the case. There's no question in my mind that an Asian beer distributor and a warm blooded American have drastically different views on the amount beer necessary to get a U.S. citizen through a calendar year in a foreign country. Some better translate to the Kiran sales rep that not every race turns pink in the face after a brewski or two.
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