Photo/Illutration St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar in a “hina” doll version, left front bottom front, shows his signature pepper grinding gesture as his mother, Kumiko, cheers. The sensational Samurai Japan hitter is one of the people featured in the lineup of dolls representing 2023. The collection is unveiled in Tokyo’s Ueno district on Nov. 28. (Wataru Sekita)

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar made Japan's lineup in the World Baseball Classic in the spring and his popularity is leading him to appear in another one at year-end.

Nootbaar is featured in the collection of special annual display of “hina” dolls, which was revealed on Nov. 28.

Mataro Ningyo, a traditional doll maker in Tokyo’s Taito Ward, has carried on the year-end tradition of making dolls representing notable people and events each year since 1946.

Nootbaar was a leading hitter of the Samurai Japan national baseball team that won the World Baseball Classic tournament.

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Lars Nootbaar in a Japanese “hina” doll version shows his signature pepper grinding gesture as his mother, Kumiko, stands next to him and cheers. Mataro Ningyo, a long-established doll company in Tokyo, unveils its collection of hina dolls featuring the people and events representing 2023 on Nov. 28. (Wataru Sekita)

He not only contributed greatly for the star-studded Japanese team, led by two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, but also made a grinding pepper gesture a cool trend, which made some kitchenware stores in Tokyo sell out of their stock of pepper mills.

Japanese baseball fans immediately adopted the American-born major leaguer wholeheartedly, calling him by the nickname "Tacchan."

Nootbaar the hina doll is showing off his signature grinding pepper gesture, standing side by side with his cheering Japanese mother, Kumiko, who also became a household name in her motherland.

Other dolls in the 2023 lineup include shogi prodigy Sota Fujii, who became the first player to win all eight major titles this year.

Generative AI and the government's “My Number Card” are also included in the lineup.

The dolls will be on display to the public at the company’s showroom in Tokyo’s Ueno district from Dec. 1 to March 3.

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St. Louis Cardinals outfielder and Samurai Japan star Lars Nootbaar and his mother, Kumiko, right bottom, are included in the lineup of “hina” dolls representing 2023, unveiled in Tokyo’s Ueno district on Nov. 28. (Wataru Sekita)

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