The White Sox are going the extra mile to ensure that Shingo Takatsu, the team’s first Japanese-born player, feels welcome.
His contract is loaded with perks similar to those of other Japanese players in the U.S. Each year the Sox will pay up to $50,000 for an interpreter, $25,000 for a housing allowance and provide six round-trip tickets from Tokyo to Chicago, so Takatsu’s wife and two kids can visit twice.
He also gets a full no-trade clause in 2004, and if the Sox pick up his 2005 option at $2.5 million, he can veto trades to 10 clubs.
BACKMAN’S BACK: Former Sox minor league manager Wally Backman was named manager of Arizona’s Class A Lancaster JetHawks. Backman, who was fired by the Sox this month, reportedly once told Twins manager Ron Gardenhire before a crucial series with the Sox to “kick their [butts] so I can get [Jerry] Manuel’s job.”
“CRAZY LEGS” DIES: After a long touchdown run for Wisconsin in 1942, Elroy Hirsch was described as looking like a “demented duck,” whose “crazy legs were gyrating in six different directions all at the same time.” On Wednesday, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch died of natural causes. He was 80.
RACE TRACKING: A bankruptcy judge accepted a bid by a group of CART team owners to keep the racing series running, choosing their offer over a competing Indy Racing League bid that would have left just one series standing in the CART-IRL rivalry.
HOT STOVE: Free agent catcher Ivan Rodriguez and the Detroit Tigers were on the verge of agreeing to a $40 million, four-year contract, The Associated Press reported.
COURT REPORT: Wimbledon champion Roger Federer beat David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and advances to a semifinal matchup against French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, who eliminated Hicham Arazi.
IN THE NFL: Green Bay promoted assistant and former Bear Bob Slowik to defensive coordinator. Slowik was a defensive coordinator with Chicago from 1993-98. … The Buffalo Bills signed free-agent fullback and former Bear Daimon Shelton.
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
