Kosuke Fukudome

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Kosuke Fukudome

Fukudome with the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs — No. 1
Right fielder
Born: April 26, 1977 (1977-04-26) (age 31) Osaki, Soo District, Kagoshima, Japan
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
March 31, 2008 for the Chicago Cubs
Selected MLB statistics (through June 12, 2008)
Batting average	.296
Home runs	5
Runs batted in	28
Teams
Chunichi Dragons (1998-2007) Chicago Cubs (2008-present)

Kosuke Fukudome (福留 孝介, Fukudome Kōsuke^?, (ɸɯkɯdome koosɯke) born April 26, 1977, in Osaki, Soo District, Kagoshima, Japan) is a Japanese right fielder for the Chicago Cubs. Prior to arriving in the United States, Fukudome played nine seasons for the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Central League. He was also a member of the Japanese national baseball team, winning a silver medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, and placing first in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He won the Central League MVP award the same year.

[edit] Early career

Fukudome entered the prestigious PL High School, and was quickly targeted by professional scouts as a potential first round draft pick. Seven teams chose Fukudome in the first round of the 1995 draft, and the Kintetsu Buffaloes won the right to negotiate with Fukudome by winning the lottery. However, Fukudome had already decided that he would not turn pro unless he could play with the Chunichi Dragons or Yomiuri Giants, and joined Nihon Seimei, whose baseball team belonged to the industrial leagues. In 1996, at the age of 19, he became the youngest player to ever be chosen for an Olympic baseball team, and his team won a silver medal in the Atlanta Olympics.

[edit] Career in Japan

The Chunichi Dragons drafted Fukudome in 1998 in the first round as a shortstop. Fukudome had grown up a fan of Dragons infielder Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, and received an autograph from Tatsunami, who would be his teammate when he joined the Dragons.

Manager Senichi Hoshino used Fukudome in 132 games in his rookie year, and Fukudome batted .284 with 16 home runs, and contributing to his team's league championship. However, he also led the league in strikeouts. While Fukudome was fast and had a strong throwing arm, he simply could not field ground balls well at shortstop. He made several errors which led to his team's loss in the Japan Series, and was often taken out of games in later innings.

He was converted to third base in his second year, but his fielding made little improvement, and his hitting dropped down as well. The next year, he was moved to the outfield. While he played poorly at first, he gradually improved to become the everyday right fielder. His natural speed and strong arm worked wonders from then on, and he has since received four Golden Glove awards in the outfield.

His hitting also improved dramatically. He stopped Hideki Matsui in his run for the triple crown in 2002, by leading the league in batting average (.343). He hit .313 with 34 homers the next year, establishing himself as one of the best hitters in the league.

In 2004, he joined the Japanese Olympic baseball team for the second time, winning a bronze medal in the Athens Olympics. He was chosen for the 2006 World Baseball Classic team, and pinch-hit for a two-run home run off Byung-Hyun Kim in the semi-finals against Korea. He pinch-hit again in the finals for a two-run hit against Cuba.

In 2006, he batted .351 with 31 home runs and 104 RBIs, winning the Central League MVP award.

[edit] Career in the United States

Fukudome with the Cubs

When asked whether he had any interest in the Major Leagues on a television show in the 2006 off-season, Fukudome answered, "It would be a lie to say I didn't. Playing in the World Baseball Classic increased my desire to play in the majors."^{[citation needed]}

Fukudome became a free agent in November 2007. On December 11, 2007, the Chicago Cubs signed Fukudome to a four-year, $48 million contract. ^[1] Fukudome said in an interview that one of the main reasons he chose the Chicago Cubs over the other three teams trying to sign him to their roster was because he wanted to be the first Japanese player to play for the team. He also thought Chicago had a great Japanese community and that it was a great place to raise his children.

Fukudome made his Major League debut on March 31, 2008 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. He went 3-for-3 with a walk, including a double on his first Major League pitch, and a three-run game-tying home run off Brewers' closer Eric Gagné in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Brewers went on to win 4-3 in extra innings.^[2]

In April 2008, a souvenir stand selling unlicensed Cubs apparel sold a t-shirt bearing Fukudome's name and number on the back, and the Cubs cartoon bear with over-sized Harry Caray-style glasses with the phrase "Horry Kow", an Engrish play on Caray's "Holy Cow!" catchphrase, in cartoonish Asian script below. Mark Kolbusz, the souvenir stand operator, said the shirt was his top seller so far that season, and that one in 10 customers complained that it was offensive. After he was shown the shirt, Fukudome said through his interpreter, "I don't know what the creator of the shirt meant this to be, but they should make it right. Maybe the creator created it because he thought it was funny, or maybe he made it to condescend the race. I don't know.".^[3] After a story on the t-shirt appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cubs ordered Kolbusz to pull the shirt off the stand and to stop production.^[4]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Kosuke Fukudome

• Japanesebaseball.com - Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics
• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube