Nagomi Mcdaniel/IF-74.790

Rumor / Community Lore
This article contains lore created collaboratively by the Blaseball community. It is just one of many Rumors that we've found in the Interdimensional Rumor Mill. You can find more Rumors about Nagomi Mcdaniel at their Rumor Registry.

When Mcdaniel ate a stray peanut in Season 3, the protein burst focused their mind and abilities. Since then they have been regarded as one of the best hitters in the league, and have only improved with time.

Baltimore Crabs Transfer

Mcdaniel was initially due to be traded to the Jazz Hands after the Season 3 election. While on the way to Breckenridge, however, her transport was intercepted by servants of the Olde One, and she found herself playing for the Crabs.

No one has ever suggested that Baltimore runs on island time, and suffice it to say, Mcdaniel found themself confused by the strange appearances and origins of their new teammates. In their search for resolution to the storm within them, Mcdaniel took it upon themself to visit the Olde One. They quickly acquired a mech suit (The Cybernetic Limb Augmentation Wearall) to make the perilous journey to the depths of Old Bay.

Mcdaniel quickly arrived at the Olde One's side, and confessed her doubts about her strange new home and bewildering teammates. The Mother Crab offered a simple solution: with a single snip of its tender claws, the Mother Crab could carcinize her, to help her understand her new team. Upon leaving Baltimore, the process could be reversed, if desired. Nagomi pondered this offer for a few moments, then accepted.

Rumors abounded after Mcdaniel's carcinization. The Baltimore Slun reported that Mcdaniel was now a headless hitter, known in legend as a Coliunn Gun Cheann. The report claimed that Mcdaniel affixed their still-living head atop their neck with a ribbon; however, they have been known to attend practice games without it, and their skills were completely unaffected. Splorts Bleakly thus disputed these reports, suggesting that McDaniel's head was still affixed to their body. Instead, Bleakly claimed, their head had in fact begun to fuse with their torso, which was now encased in a carapace and more closely resembled a crab's thorax. Eye witness accounts both support and refute these reports. The confusion is believed to be part of the Deep One's design.

Further complicating the matter, some rumours suggest Mcdaniel’s new form is the only the beginning of the Mother Crab's carcinization process. The subject of her final form has thus become a common conversation topic within Baltimore, albeit often discreetly. Unsourced and unverified claims suggest she may become a centaur like creature with a giant crab in place of legs; a ten foot tall red cap, with her hands replaced by iron claws, and her blood replaced with Old Bay Seasoning; or perhaps a five-inch high double of Mcdaniel will grow out of her neck and pilot her former body like a machine. These claims, though widely considered fantastic, cannot be disproven at this time.

During their time with the Crabs, Mcdaniel took the field clad in their Wearall and, as they described it, wielding "a claymore and a new-found inhumanity."

Joining the Jazz Hands

Amid the bevy of blessings Mcdaniel received in the Season 5 Elections was Rollback Netcode. This blessing undid some of her carcinization, and forced her to realize how far it had progressed in two short years. The stark differences between her pre- and post-Rollback bodies thoroughly scared Mcdaniel; as she phrased it in one interview, she had to ask, "How much had I given up to the Mother Crab without recognizing the cost? How much was I the person with my heart in Hawai'i, and how much of me had become fully crab?" These questions haunted her, and she ventured further and further from Baltimore in search of enough distance that she could resolve these blurred boundaries. It was at this point that she received an enticing invitation to join the Jazz Hands in Breckenridge, CO, USA. Crabs teammate and former Jazz Hands batter Tot Fox had told her stories of Breckenridge, describing it as a place of beautiful mountains, peace, and a distinct lack of salt water. She thus accepted the invitation, with the added benefit of allowing Stanton to return home after two years away.

Life in Breckenridge was not without its reminders of the Crabs - Jazz Hands batter Valentine Games was also a former Crab - but it was a far cry from the crashing waves and salty air of Baltimore. Hiking the mountain trails gave Mcdaniel plenty of time and space to think, slowly sorting through what parts of themself were from their life in Hawai'i and what parts had been carcinized. Over time, they reconciled these disparate aspects into what they once described to Games as a "newer, truer Mcdaniel." When asked about their feelings towards batting for the Jazz Hands in an interview, they replied, "I feel like it's only fair repayment, given the space and time the Hands have afforded me. I have no doubt I'll be traded away soon enough, but until then I will give the Jazz Hands my all."

It was during her time with the Jazz Hands that Mcdaniel was introduced to Japanese jazz fusion. Lowe Forbes shared a selection of their jazz albums with Mcdaniel, and alongside artists like Llouis Slatchmo and Smiles Dlavis, Forbes provided her with the album Mint Jams by Casiopea. Intrigued by the distinctive style, she independently sought out new artists, and discovered Hiromi's Sonicbloom, Himiko Kikuchi, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Sloul & "Plomp" Slessions, and became a lifelong fan of the Japanese jazz scene. In an interview, she described the experience of discovering Japanese jazz as "a roundabout discovery of culture [she] never had," citing a disconnect between the Japanese cultural festivals of Hawai'i and a more personal experience of Japan.

Return to the Crabs

After Nagomi was Shelled by a disgruntled Peanut, it was found in her living will that were she to be incapacitated in any way besides incineration she wished to return to her beloved Baltimore to recuperate. Holden Stanton, having already participated in a Jazz Hands transfer, offered to fill her spot with the Hands in the meantime. The giant peanut shell that encased her was transported back to her home by the Chesapeake, where the Crabs tend to her, hoping one day she might be freed.

In Literature

Crabs Poet Laureate Runolfio Peeper wrote the following verse, which appeared in the Baltimore Slun shortly before season 4:

Nagomi's travelled o'er the earth
The journey started out of hell
Returned to islands of her birth
And for a Friday spent a spell

But sad to say, she could not stay
The Blaseball Gods (those wicked frauds)
Did her betray, sent her away
Based on her squad’s poor gambling odds

And so she flew to Breckinridge
But hardly settled in that place
She dove from Royal Gorge's bridge
And there she found a Crab's embrace.

Once in the deep Crabitat keep
The Olde One spread its claws and led
A stunning evolution's leap.
Now her humanity all shed,
She'll lead the team to get ahead.

Trivia

• Nagomi's favorite radio station is KZOO
• Nagomi's favorite anime is Cowboy Bebop.

Season-by-Season Statistics

(all Regular Season)

Season 2 (Hawai'i Fridays)

• Data only accounts for 62 games
• 71 Hits / 8 Home Runs / 37 RBI / 0.318 Batting Average
• 6th in Doubles Hit

Season 3 (Hawai'i Fridays)

• 101 Hits / 25 Home Runs / 57 RBI / 0.314 Batting Average
• 2nd in Walks, 7th in On-Base Percentage, 9th in Slugging Percentage

Season 4 (Baltimore Crabs)

• 92 Hits / 21 Home Runs / 63 RBI / 0.312 Batting Average
• 4th in On-Base Percentage, 5th in Slugging Percentage, 8th in Walks

Season 5 (Baltimore Crabs)

• 120 Hits (9th in league) / 28 Home Runs (9th in league) / 74 RBI (8th in league) / 0.376 Batting Average (1st in league)
• Led League in Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, & Slugging Percentage

Season 6 (Breckenridge Jazz Hands)

• 119 Hits / 35 Home Runs (1st)/ 82 RBI (3rd) / 0.388 Batting Average (1st)
• Led League in Home Runs, Batting Average, Walks, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage

Season 10 (Baltimore Crabs)

• 127 Hits / 44 Home Runs (1st) / 100 RBI (1st) / 0.345 Batting Average (4th)
• Led League in Home Runs, RBI, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage
• 2nd in Triples, 4th in Batting Average, 7th in Walks, 3rd in Sacrifice Bunts

Season 11 (Hawai'i Fridays)

• 129 Hits / 26 Home Runs / 84 RBI / 0.322 Batting Average
• 6th in Stolen Bases, 8th in Doubles, 9th in Slugging Percentage