Nickname
Tanaka is often affectionately referred to as Mā-kun (マー君, Mā-chan?) by both fans and the media. The nickname stuck after Tanaka and Saito told Tanaka told media that that was what Tanaka was called on the team during the U.S.-Japan High School Baseball Tournament that followed the national tournament in 2006. Eagles manager Katsuya Nomura also often refers to Tanaka as "Mā-kun" in interviews. While older players on the team generally call Tanaka by his surname, some call him by the abbreviated nickname "Mā".
Read more about this topic: Masahiro Tanaka
Famous quotes containing the word nickname:
“A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it still haunts our apprehensions.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)