Cubs greats Derrek Lee, Kosuke Fukudome served as ambassadors during Tokyo Series
TOKYO – Retired Cubs star Derrek Lee looked out from the school gymnasium stage at a sea of children who were about the same age as he was in the latter years of his dad’s Nippon Professional Baseball career, when Lee was attending an international school in Japan.
Leaning in to hear the interpreter next to him relay the latest question from the group, he smiled.
“Good question,” he said. “Are you guys 12, really?”
Laughter lilted around the room.
Lee and Kosuke Fukudome, who was the first Japanese-born player in Cubs history, teamed up again on Thursday for an outreach event at Kyōdō Elementary School. It had been almost 15 years since they shared a field together.
“It makes me very happy, especially because he came here to Japan," Fukudome said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “So hopefully if there’s an opportunity in the future for something like this to happen again, that'd be great.”
Lee and Fukudome, with the Cubs mascot Clark in tow, were serving as ambassadors for their old team on their elementary school visit Tuesday – in a country dominated by Shohei Ohtani fandom. But even the boy wearing a Dodgers shirsey swiftly donned one of the Cubs hats they gave out and stuck the mini “W” flag in the back.
They were also promoting the game in general. Though baseball is incredibly popular in Japan, and the talent coming to the majors from NPB is in a golden era, anxiety over declining youth participation rates over the last decade and a half persists for those connected to Japanese baseball.
“The elementary school team I was on, they're not a team anymore,” Cubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki told the Sun-Times through an interpreter earlier this month. “The middle school team I was on, it's getting hard for them to get more players to play. Just knowing that the teams I was on in the past, they're slowly dwindling, I feel like it is a very big issue.”
Fukudome was similarly aware of the trend. And while Suzuki hoped to inspire Japanese kids on the field in the Tokyo Series, Fukudome hopped in a Cubs shuttle van to an elementary school Wednesday morning.
“There's obviously a big difference watching on TV and how you feel versus watching [MLB players] live,” Fukudome said. “So I think series like this are great for the game, and I think it's great for kids in Japan.”
In the school gym, live and up close, Fukudome and Lee gave opening remarks and answered questions. They took group photos and greeted one wide-eyed kid after another.
It gave them time to reminisce on their time playing together, when Lee was already an established veteran and Fukudome kicked off his major-league career with an All-Star season in 2008.
As the Cubs have prioritized talent evaluation and acquisition in Japan in recent years, they’ve also refined their process for helping those players with the transition to the United States — on and off the field.
“I think the biggest thing is that everybody in baseball, everybody around, understands the challenge of going to play in a different country,” Fukudome said. “... I think there's going to be more players who want to do that challenge because there's a lot of support from everybody.”
Fukudome was breaking new ground in the Cubs organization. But he had teammates like Alfonso Soreano, who also played in NPB, and Lee, who grew up spending summers in Japan with his dad Leon Lee, as loose connections back to his home country.
“This is where I fell in love with baseball, getting a chance to be at the ballpark with my dad,” Lee said. “And then to make it to the big leagues myself and play with guys like Fukudome, it's kind of full circle. Then to be back here for Cubs Opening Day – just been a really cool week.”