http://tinyurl.com/4u5t4w 此篇為 SI 在 4/29 刊登的文章
http://tinyurl.com/5q2fam 福留登上當期 SI 封面 (!)
Kosuke Fukudome Tastes Good
福留孝介適應良好
By Lee Jenkins
He had agreed to the contract. He had put on the jersey. He had taken his
seat inside the stadium club, at the table draped in bunting, and he had
begun that final rite of free agency, the introductory press conference.
Only then did the magnitude of what he'd signed on for become clear.
他同意簽下合約，也穿上了球衣，現在坐在球場的休息室裡，面前擺著一張懸吊著
旗幟的桌子，然後開始自由球員的最終儀式－－這是他的見面記者會。直到這時候，
他才真正清楚簽下他的球團目前的狀況。
His interpreter was translating reporters' questions from English to
Japanese, but one question, even when translated, sounded incomprehensible:
Did it factor into your decision that it has been 100 years since the Cubs
won a championship?
他的翻譯忙著將記者們的問題從英文翻成日文，但是有個問題，即使透過翻譯，還是
有點聽不太明白：小熊隊有一百年沒得到冠軍了，這件事情當初是否有對你的決定造
成影響？
Kosuke Fukudome knew enough history to recognize that he was not joining
a dynasty. He realized that the Cubs were in the midst of a difficult stretch.
But a difficult century? For some reason, team officials had neglected to
mention this little detail in the three-plus years they had spent scouting
and courting him.
福留孝介所知的球團歷史，足以讓他瞭解他並不是加入一支戰績輝煌的王朝，他明白
小熊正處於一段艱困的黯淡時期。但是，有黯淡到一個世紀這麼久？不知為何，球團
官方人員派出球探跟他連絡、招募他加入小熊隊的這三年期間，似乎對於這個小細節
隻字未提。
So Fukudome scratched his head. He took a breath. He flashed a nervous
half-smile. His contract was for four years, and his name was already
stitched across the back of his jersey. He could not exactly run out of
Wrigley Field and fly back to Japan. He also could not act daunted. "That
didn't factor too much into my choice," he told the assembled reporters
on Dec. 19. It was no lie, not technically. How could something be a factor
if he had not even been aware of it?
所以福留抓了抓頭，吸了一口氣，臉上閃過要笑不笑的緊張神情。他簽的是四年的合
約，他的名字早已繡上球衣背面，他不可能真的逃離 Wrigley Field，然後搭上飛機
飛回日本，他也不能讓人感覺他有被這消息嚇到。「那並沒有對我的決定造成太大的
影響，」他在 12 月 19 日如示回答了當天聚集的記者。這並不是謊話，至少技術上
來說不是。如果他根本都不曉得有這件事，那麼那怎麼可能會對他的決定造成影響？
Four months later, sitting in the coffee shop of a downtown Chicago hotel,
Fukudome came clean. "I had no idea it had been 100 years," he said through
his interpreter, Matt Hidaka.
四個月後，福留坐在芝加哥下城區一間旅館裡的咖啡店，終於說出了實話：「我不知
道已經有一百年這麼久了，」他透過他的翻譯 Matt Hidaka 如此表示。
The fact that Kosuke Fukudome stuck around is making this 100th-anniversary
season a whole lot easier to stomach. Instead of picking at old scabs, the
Cubs are celebrating a new player who does not know Bartman from Bart Simpson.
Fukudome has been a Cub for only a month, but he already gets the loudest
pregame ovations at Wrigley Field. Every time he walks to home plate, the
organist plays a catchy melody that inspires chants of "FOO-koo-DOUGH-may."
Vendors say his jersey is their best seller, by approximately two to one. He
has also spawned a cottage industry outside the ballpark, where you can buy
bandanas with Fukudome's name spelled in Japanese characters or T-shirts with
shout-outs such as FUKUDOME IS MY HOMIE. (The Cubs, though, did have to pull
one unlicensed T-shirt from the outdoor marketplace because it featured their
bear logo with slanted eyes and Harry Caray glasses, over the words HORRY KOW.)
福留孝介能夠加入小熊，對於這個時屆百周年的球季，緩和了不少緊張的情緒。小熊
忙著歡迎這個分不清楚 Bartman (註 1) 跟 Bart Simpson (註 2) 誰是誰的球員，
而不用沈浸在過去的傷痛。而福留成為小熊球員才一個月的時間，就已經在 Wrigley
Field 獲得賽前最熱烈的歡呼聲。每次他走上打擊區，就會傳來旋律讓人朗朗上口的
風琴聲，然後球迷就會跟著唱和："FOO-koo-DOUGH-may"。攤販們說他的球衣是暢銷
商品，三個人之中就有兩個人是買他的球衣。這股熱潮也蔓延到球場外那些小販的自
製商品：你可以買到以日文字拼出福留名字的方巾，或是印有例如 FUKUDOME IS MY
HOMIE 之類大寫字的Ｔ恤。(然而，小熊球團有要求外面的攤販將一項未授權的Ｔ恤
下架，因為這件Ｔ恤印有他們的小熊標誌，而且小熊圖案的眼睛是東方人的小眼睛，
然後配上 Harry Caray 的大黑框眼鏡，上面印著 HORRY KOW 幾個大字。) (註 3)
註 1. Bartman 就是在 2003 年國聯冠軍賽 Game 6 接走界外球，讓比賽從此風雲
變色的小熊球迷。
註 2. Bart Simpson 則是卡通辛普森家庭裡面的小男孩霸子。
註 3. 這個帶有種族歧視味道的標誌請見 http://tinyurl.com/6pteq4
另外，Harry Caray 是小熊比賽的轉播員，Holy Cow 跟 Cubs wins! Cubs wins!
是他的招牌名句。
Fukudome, though, should not be viewed as some novelty act. There are
plenty of reasons why the Cubs were in first place in the Central Division
at week's end: the rediscovered power stroke of first baseman Derrek Lee,
a strong bullpen and, not least of all, a newfound plate discipline that
starts with Fukudome. Through Sunday, the lefthanded-hitting Fukudome was
batting .326 with a .444 on-base percentage. The notoriously rowdy fans in
the Wrigley bleachers not only hang signs of tribute to him in Japanese, but
they also chant in the rightfielder's native tongue. Their efforts are
flattering, if occasionally puzzling, to Fukudome. Placards with the Cubs'
slogan IT'S GONNA HAPPEN in Japanese have been read by Fukudome to say IT'S
AN ACCIDENT. And one well-meaning bleacher bum keeps yelling a phrase that
translates as, "It tastes good!"
但全隊不是只有福留讓大家覺得換然一新，有很多理由是小熊在這個週末登上中區
寶座的原因：一壘手 Derrek Lee 重新找回自己的打擊實力、強健的牛棚，另外還
有很重要的一點，從福留開始所激起的全隊選球能力。截至星期日為止，左手打擊
的福留打擊率.326，OBP .444。Wrigley 外野看台上以粗暴聞名的小熊球迷不旦掛
著日文標語向福留致意，而且還會以這名右外野手的母語唱和，福留對於他們的行
為感到萬分榮幸，但有時也感到困惑：以日文表示小熊口號 IT'S GONNA HAPPEN的
牌子，福留唸起來卻是 IT'S AN ACCIDENT (就是之前的"偶然")。一名外野看台的
球迷出自好意持續大喊的話語，翻譯成日文卻是「好吃」。
"It's like he became a legend here," shortstop Ryan Theriot says. "In one day."
「一切就好像是他已經成為這裡的傳奇球星，」游擊手 Ryan Theriot 說：「而且才
花短短一天的時間而已。」
The fanfare has come as a bit of a surprise to Fukudome, who came to the
States without the mythology that preceded Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and
Daisuke Matsuzaka, each of whom is a celebrity in Japan. Fukudome believes
he already has more fans in Chicago than back home in Japan, where he was
merely a very good player with two batting titles, four Gold Gloves and an
MVP award, in 2006. His Japanese team, the Chunichi Dragons, played in a
midsized market and went 53 years without a championship before capturing the
Central League title last season