The legacy of Warren Cromartie has endured in Japanese baseball even though it's been decades since the former Yomiuri Giants star laced up his cleats in Japan.
Cromartie played his last game for the Giants in 1990, before a one-year final act with the Kansas City Royals closed the book on a career that began with the Montreal Expos in the early '70s. He was a bona-fide star with the Giants, which made him a celebrity all over Japan. Even now, Cromartie is still called back to the country for appearances and commercials, a testament to the equity he still has with the generation of fans who watched him play.
"It's wonderful," Cromartie told The Japan Times during his latest visit. "It's my home, my backyard. I'm still surprised people still recognize me even to this day. I'm very blessed. I don't take it for granted. Because apparently, I still have value here. Randy Bass (the former Hanshin Tigers legend) and I still have that value after all these years. We left our mark."