Kawasaki homers on first pitch with indy team?

Set your mind a few years back and you may remember Munenori Kawasaki, the famed Mariners, Blue Jays and Cubs utility infielder. Though his big league career only last a few years, he made an indelible impact on his teammates and fans with his energetic play and even more enthusiastic off-the-field interviews.

Who can forget the joy Kawasaki showed after lacing a walk-off hit with the Blue Jays in 2013 as he used his phrase book to help speak to the crowd in English:

Or his rendition of "O Canada" for the Toronto faithful:

And the dancing! Who can forget the dancing?

Well, I have some good news for you: Mune is back! The 39-year-old Kawasaki made his debut with the Tochigi Golden Braves, an independent team in Japan's Baseball Challenge League (the same league where Julio Franco finally finished his career as a player-manager in 2015).

And, wouldn't you know it, on the very first pitch he saw, he went deep.

Sure enough, he was smiling coming around the bases, too:

Yeah, he may have hit only one home run in the big leagues -- and just 27 more in Japan's NPB -- but he's still got plenty of strength:

We may be in the great renaissance of former big leaguers playing in other leagues. Last winter, Delmon Young led the Australian Baseball League in home runs en route to a league title with the Melbourne Aces, Manny Ramirez is looking to return to play in Taiwan at the age of 48, and now Mune.

As long as he sticks to the fundamentals, he should be just fine:

h/t r/baseball