Cubs starter Shota Imanaga dedicated his NL All-Star hat to the Baseball Hall of Fame following his performance in Texas at the All-Star game.
Why did Imanaga do that?
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Imanaga is just the second Japanese-born player to represent the Cubs in the All-Star Game and is the first to pitch (Kosuke Fukudome was an outfielder in the 2008 ASG). He is also the second Japanese-born player to pitch for the National League in the All-Star Game, and the first since Hideo Nomo started the game in 1995.
Imanaga pitched in the bottom of the fourth inning, just after Chicago White Sox starter Garrett Crochet pitched a scoreless top of the fourth inning. Imanaga followed up Crochet's outing with a 1-2-3 inning.
The Cubs All-Star got Marcus Semien to line out. He struck out Adley Rutschman with a sweeper that painted the bottom right corner. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to second base.
Imanaga comically changed his walk-up song from "Chelsea Dagger" --- a Chicago classic known as the Blackhawks' goal-scoring anthem --- to "Be Like Mike," an ode to Michael Jordan but a double entendre to his alias "Mike," which he uses at coffee shops to get his coffee.
