Home Run Derby

Kosuke Fukudome is coming to America.  He’s coming to Chicago.  He’s coming to Wrigley Field.  The Cubs outbid the Padres and White Sox offered the most attractive situation for Fukudome.  He’ll play Right Field, which the Sox couldn’t or wouldn’t offer.

I can’t wait for 2,000 drunken Trixies in the Wrigley Bleachers to mispronounce “Fukudome” 30 times a game.  

As we said once before … it’s pronounced Foo-Koo-Doh-May. 
Not Fuk-U-Do-Me.

But if you’re hoping to get a Cub jersey for Christmas with an easily mispronounced sexual innuendo on the back … I think you’re going to be disappointed.

Because Fukudome’s jersey is probably going to look like this …

Fukudome is one of the best hitters in Japan.  He’s a proud man.  I doubt he’s going to want to play under a name which will be mostly sideshow.

Since the the Cubs pride themselves on being a “family” ballclub, I’d expect them to look for alternatives to the mispronounceable Fukudome. 

There’s also precedent for using Kosuke on his jersey instead of Fukudome.  Ichiro Suzuki’s Mariners uniform reads “Ichiro” and not “Suzuki.” 

Mind you, Ichiro used his “Ichiro” on his uniform while in Japan.  Fukudome did not use “Kosuke.”  Suzuki is a very common last name in Japan.  Fukudome - not as much.

And Dick Pole was on the Cubs’ coaching staff for years.

So there’s hope.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 10:23 am and is filed under Cubs, Drunken Fans, Japan, Kosuke Fukudome, Padres, White Sox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.