Matsui Thinks Brady Has a Natural Swing

This was a big...and I mean BIG weekend for Brady. He filmed a commercial. Yes...our 7 year old will be in a commercial. It might only be shown in Japan...but heck, he's in it.


A few weeks ago, my cousin George sent me an email about an open audition for 7-10 year olds that have played little league baseball. George does some acting and happened to see the open audition notice and thought of Brady. So...we signed him up for an audition.


A few days later, we dressed Brady in his Cubs baseball shirt, pants, cup, cleats, and hat, grabbed his glove and bat, and headed to downtown Phoenix for his audition. At the audition, they had him stand on a circle in front of a green screen, swing the bat, pose as a baseball player for pictures, and answer some questions. They gave him a piece of candy...and we were done. The next week we were contacted - he was selected for the commercial.


No, he's not the star. He's an extra. I have no idea how many total kids auditioned, but they needed 40. For all we know, there were only 40 that auditioned :)


The email that we received instructed us to come in this past Thursday for a wardrobe fitting. At the fitting, they fit him for a uniform, snapped some pictures, and gave us the shooting schedule/location. We were told via email that 10 of the kids would be selected for some still shots.


The filming of the commercial was today at Papago Baseball Facility...the Oakland A's spring training practice fields. The hottie took him because I was taking the girls to Rylee's 6th birthday party. We debated back and forth who would take him. Although I'm sad I missed it...I am SO very glad that the hottie was able to take him. It was way more than we expected.


We did NOT know this ahead of time, but the commercial involved Hideki Matsui. We thought the commercial was for Komatsu. My Googling discovered that Komatsu is a huge international construction-type company. We were imagining Field of Dreams in a commercial. Well...I'm pretty sure we were wrong. Matsui's dad worked for a Japanese company called Komatsu for over 20 years and he endorses this company. The commercial seemed to be about some type of hitting and swinging instruction led by Matsui. The kids were swinging and hitting and Matsui walked around, swung the bat, and watched the kids while providing feedback to them on their swing.


Um...I don't think this could have been more perfect. Yesterday we found out that Brady's new little league team is the A's and now he gets to "play" ball with a real-life A player. The hottie was in HEAVEN. I'm pretty sure he loved this even more than Brady.


They arrived to the shoot at 9:30am. The hottie was told that Brady had been selected as one of the 10 for the still shots. So, Brady and 9 others went to a separate area where they got to take still shots with Matsui. Yep...again...HEAVEN.


After the stills, the 10 kids met up with the rest of the kids and went to the outfield and spread out so there was room to swing the bat. When the director yelled action, the kids were instructed to keep swinging the bat. Matsui walked around, gave instruction, demonstrated proper swings, and helped the kids with their swings. He stopped at Brady for awhile. And get this...he told Brady he has a natural swing.


During this entire part of the day the hottie was a good distance away - so he had no idea what was being said. But, you better believe he was excited tonight when Brady told us what Matsui said. Too funny.


The commercial wrapped early today due to weather...but, our little actor is heading back out tomorrow to finish up the shoot. He did get paid today...$50. He thinks he's rich. Too cute! I asked him if he wanted to do more commercials. He said..."um yeah - you get fifty dollars. awesome!"