Tucci Throws a Fast One

EMC CEO Joe Tucci made the paper last week not for a business announcement, but for a pitch that went wide of the mark.

We're talking a baseball pitch. According to columnist Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, Tucci was attending a reception at a fancy hotel in Tokyo for the Boston Red Sox (also EMC customers), during which assembled dignitaries watched last year's World Series video clips on a humongous LED screen. Attendees paused when someone handed Tucci a mitt to play catch with Red Sox pitcher Hideki Okajima: "Standing in front of the giant screen, Okajima softly tossed to Tucci, who was about 20 feet away. Tucci made the catch, and before you could say, 'Nuke LaLoosh,' gunned a wild heater that sailed far high and wide of a sprawling Okajima and punctured the precious LED screen," recalled Shaughnessy.

Way not to go, Joe!

Tucci was on the scene in Japan as part of a promotional campaign, which involved the Red Sox wearing the EMC logo on their shirts.

Figure 1:

As the second-largest IT market for EMC in the world, Japan is a major focus for Hopkinton. At last week's games and events, Tucci and others hosted hundreds of customers and partners and EMC Japan employees, spokespeople say.

It's all a fit for Tucci himself, a Brooklyn native who grew up with sports and loves baseball/business comparisons.

Now, if he could just keep his enthusiasm a bit more in check...

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