(posted by One More Dying Quail)

Yesterday, PostmanE of We Are The Postmen fame pointed to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times that shined a light on offensive Kosuke Fukudome shirts being sold outside Wrigley Field. Today, the team issued a swift response - buh-bye, T-shirt.

The Cubs halted the production and sale of a Kosuke Fukudome T-shirt hours after a report by a Chicago newspaper that the shirt contained an offensive image.

Deluged with e-mails from fans, Cubs officials discovered the unlicensed product contained a trademarked Cubs logo and confronted the vendor, who complied with the team's demand to pull the shirt, the Sun-Times reported.

"Clearly, the shirt was in poor taste and the Cubs are pleased to know that it will no longer be produced or sold," Cubs spokesman Peter Chase told the paper.

E mentioned in his post that he and his friends had been discussing this all season ("too quietly", he admits). I find it interesting, then, that it took an article in the Sun-Times and tons of emails from fans before the team "discovered" the product. You'd think somebody from the front office would've stumbled past it on the street or something at some point, but I guess not.

The reaction of Fukudome when shown a shirt was encouraging - you can't get everything from reading words on a screen, but he appeared to clearly express his displeasure. More disturbing is this:

Mark Kolbusz, who runs the souvenir stand that sold the shirt, said it was his top-selling shirt.

You mean there are racists outside of Boston? Who knew?