Kosuke Fukudome

Kosuke Fukudome (福留 孝介) is a retired Japanese professional baseball outfielder.

Seven teams chose Fukudome in the first round of the 1995 draft, 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.

He was also a member of the Japan 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 and 2009 World Baseball Classic.

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.

The Chunichi Dragons drafted Fukudome in 1998 NPB draft 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 improved little, and his hitting dropped 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 has since led to his winning 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 won the Central League MVP in 2006.

Fukudome entered the PL Gakuen High School, and was quickly targeted by professional scouts as a potential first round draft pick.

He was chosen for the 2006 World Baseball Classic team, and pinch-hit with 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.

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."

Fukudome became a free agent in November 2007.

On December 11, 2007, the Chicago Cubs signed Fukudome to a four-year, $48 million contract.

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.

He played in Major League Baseball from 2008 to 2012, primarily with the Chicago Cubs and had a long spanning career in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) with the Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers.

Prior to arriving in MLB, Fukudome played nine seasons for the Chunichi Dragons of the Nippon Professional Baseball.

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 Éric Gagné in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Brewers went on to win 4–3 in extra innings.

In April 2008, a souvenir stand selling unlicensed Cubs apparel sold a t-shirt bearing the Cubs cartoon bear wearing oversized Harry Caray-style glasses encircled by 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 1 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."

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.

After a fast start, Fukudome's 2008 MLB performance faded.

After a .327 batting average in April, each successive month reflected less success as Fukudome batted .293 in May, .264 in June, .236 in July, .193 in August, and .178 in September, followed by .100 in the postseason.