Name Spelling
Though the name Bass would conventionally be transcribed バス Basu in Japanese, Randy Bass is known as バース Bāsu (pronounced ). The Hanshin Tigers requested the change because the owner of the team, Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., directly owned a bus operation in those days (currently owned by Hanshin Bus Co., Ltd.). Because "bus" is written exactly the same as Bass in Japanese ('basu'), the Tigers worried that Japanese media might create headlines such as "Bus unstoppable" (consecutive hits), "Bus explodes" (home run) or "Bus crash" (if he slumps), which would have a negative impact to the corporate image of Hanshin Bus.
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