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MLB to Celebrate Cardinals’ Lars Nootbaar, Other Japanese Players with Custom Manhole Covers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By A. Kazmierczak | Last updated Jun 13, 2025 4:28 PM ET

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and Chicago Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki are among 12 active Japanese MLB players that will be celebrated with custom manhole covers in Japan beginning June 16.

Per an MLB.com article, the 12 custom manhole covers featuring one player in each design, will be installed at locations in Japan associated with that's player's roots in baseball.

Local Japanese artists created designs of MLB players for manhole covers to celebrate the league's 12 active Japanese players

Below are the designs for Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Kodai Senga and Shota Imanaga

Each cover will be installed at locations around Japan associated… pic.twitter.com/SF43qYnB1B
— MLB (@MLB) June 11, 2025

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar, who represented the Japan National team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, will also be one of the 12 players celebrated. Nootbaar, whose mother is of Japanese descent, will have his cover installed on Monday, June 23 in Higashimatsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture.

In seven games for Team Japan during their 2023 WBC title run, Nootbaar slashed .269/.424/.269 with four RBIs, six walks and two stolen bases.

This season with the Cardinals, Nootbaar got off to a hot start but has cooled off this month. He's hitting just .128 in June with 15 strikeouts, and is marred in a 1-for-27 slump in his last seven games.

Each of the manhole covers were designed by different artists and a video depicting how they were made can be seen here.

The full installation schedule and locations for the custom manhole covers are as follows:

June 16 – Shohei Ohtani: Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture

June 16 – Yusei Kikuchi: Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture

June 16 – Roki Sasaki: Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture

June 17 – Yu Darvish: Habikino City, Osaka Prefecture

June 18 – Yuki Matsui: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture

June 19 – Shota Imanaga: Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture

June 23 – Lars Nootbaar: Higashimatsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture

June 24 – Seiya Suzuki: Arakawa Ward, Tokyo

June 25 – Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Bizen City, Okayama Prefecture

June 26 – Masataka Yoshida: Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture