So Taguchi no longer carries a bat and glove onto the field. Instead, he clutches a binder and pen as he paces the dirt behind the batting cage. But when he calls a player over to open the binder and discuss its contents, he greets him with that familiar smile, warm and wide.
After three years spent managing in the minor leagues, the former Cardinal fan favorite has been promoted to major league batting coach with his onetime team, Japan’s Orix Buffaloes (formerly the Blue Wave).
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Besides his endearing smile, fans will forever remember the former outfielder for shifting the momentum of the 2006 National League Championship Series with a tiebreaking home run off New York Mets closer Billy Wagner in Game 2. It helped propel the Cardinals all the way to their first world championship in 24 seasons.
In an interesting way, Taguchi’s new job gives him a fresh reminder of the one he had as an outfielder and bench weapon here, from 2002–2007.
“It’s funny how now that I’m in this position, I constantly see images of Tony La Russa and his coaching staff flash through my mind,” Taguchi says during spring training in Miyazaki, a city in southern Japan. “To me, they are the standard of game management, so I’ll be thinking, ‘Well, Tony would have stood here to get a look at this thing,’ or I’ll see an image of José Oquendo stepping back from his spot in the third base coach’s box to get a better view of something he needed to think about. I’m blessed to have been influenced by such a professional staff.”
Taguchi still refers to St. Louis as his second hometown and continues to own a house in West County. His son, Kan, was born in Japan in December 2003 but spent several formative years in St. Louis where, most importantly, he acquired a love of baseball and developed his left-handed swing. Now an accomplished high school batter, he, too, eyes playing in the United States during college and beyond.
The Taguchis used to return annually to their second hometown. Once, the family attended a Blues game. When So was shown on the center ice video board, the sold-out crowd responded with such a raucous standing ovation, it rivaled any home team goal that night. It moved his wife, Emiko, to tears.
The demands of being back in uniform, though, have made it difficult for Taguchi to return in recent years.
Asked what he misses most about St. Louis, he grins: a plain Ted Drewes concrete with whipped cream, the Dutch baby at The Original Pancake House. Mid-reverie, he pauses, then lists something else he’d like to savor. “This season will be the first time Albert [Pujols] plays in St. Louis since he signed with the Angels, right?”
Informed that his teammate of six seasons will indeed be returning to Busch Stadium June 21–23, for the first time since the 2011 World Series championship, Taguchi says, “I’d love to be there for that, so I could stand and cheer for all he did. He added so much richness to the franchise, and, for me, playing baseball for an organization that celebrates such a deep history is what I will always cherish the most about my time wearing the birds on the bat.”
