Milwaukee, WIFavorite food: Chocolate éclair
Favorite animal: Hank the Cat/ platypus
Spirit animal: Platypus?
Favorite Position *to play in softball*: Left field when I still had the legs to run. Pitcher after that.
The Seahorse in his trademark athletic jeans.
A founding member of the Sea Kittens, Tommy Tom Tom Seahorse Cichosz Shabidu, Jr. played 83 games in a storied career. Rarely the flashiest, often the gangliest, the Seahorse played a starring role in some of the grandest moments in Sea Kitten history, including The Seahorse Roar, the 2012 Summer Championship– in which he was winning pitcher, and the infamous “Out at Third” game on opening night 2013. He also holds the distinction of hitting the first sacrifice fly in team history.
TTT posted 3 wins against only 1 loss pitching for the 2012 Summer League Sea Kittens and drove home a career-high 15 runs. He also played a huge role in the title game itself, going 3-4 with a double and walk and four runs scored.
Seahorse notes that his earliest memories of the Greatest Game is “not for the life of me being able to judge a fly ball in the outfield as a kid. It was traumatic because I played for the same coach year after year and he always insisted ‘this is the year’, so he’d start me in left field and slowly move me through the outfield to right as the first few games were played. I lived most of my life in right field kicking dandelions and wishing I could catch a fly ball.” Sea Kittens provided an opportunity for an exorcism of those childhood demons, and TTT not only became a more-than-reliable left fielder, he also was the team’s first outfield instructor, trying to convince innumerable Cats- with varying degrees of success- that their first step should usually be back…
Always a keen observer of action on the field.Favorite Sea Kittens moment: That time when I tweaked my knee and everyone gasped and said things like ‘knees aren’t supposed to do that.’ The ump stopped the game briefly to get my assurance that I could still play. I didn’t know what the big deal was. I wish I could’ve seen what other people saw…the Kits need instant replay capabilities.
The “tweak” was actually a torn meniscus sustained during the 2012 season, but TT gritted through it until having surgery later that fall. While time may have slowed the Seahorse, it wasn’t the knees… his production was remarkably consistent pre- and post-surgery, and 9 of his career 18 extra-base hits came after surgery, in 4 fewer at-bats. His last(???)- perhaps it’s just his most recent- appearance as a Sea Kitten came July 13, 2016 as an emergency starting pitcher against South Side Badgers. Shabidu, Jr., was brilliantly wild in walking 8 Badgers and keeping them off-balance in a 12-7 victory. He also singled, walked, and scored a run in three plate appearances.
He can still be found in the crowd at many Sea Kittens games, sometimes dressed as Seamour Sea Kitten and offering color commentary and delighting spectators with unicycle tricks. It’s unknown if he would honor a request for an autograph.
Favorite thing on the softball diamond: Winning! And gopher holes in the outfield.Most annoying thing on the softball diamond: Losing! And mosquitoes in the outfield.
Most annoying thing on the softball diamond: Losing! And mosquitoes in the outfield.
