Tuesday, November 5th, 2002
Signed SS Donald "Iron Man" Noboru to a 4-year contract extension worth a total of $38,000,000.
After months of contentious negotiations, the Las Vegas Hustlers and SS/2B Donald Noboru finally agreed to a four year contract extension that will keep him in Las Vegas through 2006.
Noboru, the Hustlers #1 pick (10th overall) in the 1995 draft, is a career .338 hitter. His .321 effort in 2002 was actually the lowest of any full season campaign. "Donald is an integral member of the Hustlers organization, and we're very proud that we were able to come to an agreement to keep the captain of our team with us for the next four years," Hustlers GM Matt Rectenwald said in a statement.
The negotiations had grown so contentious over the past month that Noboru was actually shopped around the league via trade. Amazingly, not one MBBA GM expressed interest in the star infielder. Clearly, the Noboru camp took this as a sign, significantly decreased their demands after the season ended, and the two sides were able to reach an agreement after two counter offers.
"I'm proud to be a member of the Hustlers," Noboru said. "As a team, we missed our goal of another Landis title, but I'm excited to be back to give it four more tries, at least!"