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Who wants to tell Mark Shapiro that he’s pronouncing his name incorrectly?

POSTED BY ON 4:38 pm, October 16, 2007 - POSTED IN News reel

Mark Shapiro, right, with Jim Thome.I’ve noticed something over the last few evenings. The broadcasters for the ALCS series keep pronouncing Mark Shapiro’s last name sha-PIE-ro, with a long “i”. This can only mean one of two things: either Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are botching Shapiro’s name, or that actually is how Shapiro pronounces his name.

So I looked it up and, sure enough, Wikipedia says his name is pronounced: “m?rk ??p?a?ro”.

Now, I’m no expert on these things, but isn’t it usually pronounced “sha-PEE-ro?

I looked through the list of other Shapiros who have entries on Wikipedia and there was no pronunciation key for the dozen or so I clicked on. I have to believe that’s because they pronounce their names the traditional way.

I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. It’s not like this is a Brett Favre situation or anything like that (incidentally, I’ve met members of Brett’s extended family and they pronounce it how it’s spelled). But what’s with the nontraditional pronunciation, Mark?

PS. If it’s because you wanted to distinguish yourself from that other Mark Shapiro (aka the guy who brought you Cold Pizza, Playmakers, etc.), I can respect that.

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20 comments so far

20 Responses to “Who wants to tell Mark Shapiro that he’s pronouncing his name incorrectly?”

  1. Sarah Green says:
    October 3, 2007 at 3:49 pm

    Oooh…I might have to buy one of these!

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  2. Pete says:
    October 4, 2007 at 11:04 am

    And there wasn’t any Red Sox Wild card paraphernalia in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2005?

    You’ve been ‘#2’ a good many times more than the Yankees, thank you very much.

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  3. Pete says:
    October 4, 2007 at 11:13 am

    For your viewing pleasure, a shot of the Boston locker room in 2004 after they clinched the Wild Card:

    http://tinyurl.com/2xmkj2

    Hmmm, you’re right, that DOES look a bit over the top.

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  4. Paul Moro says:
    October 4, 2007 at 12:05 pm

    Pete, I can state with all honesty that I am no Red Sox fan. In fact, if someone held a gun to my head and made me pick between the Yanks and Sox to root for this postseason, I’d probably pick the Yankees. Hell, I even devoted an entire post to explaining why Curt Schilling is hate-able.

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  5. Sarah Green says:
    October 4, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    Pete, you still haven’t answered the question I asked you in response to your comment under my “Cookies for Rookies” post. Who would you have picked for AL ROY?

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  6. Pete says:
    October 4, 2007 at 3:23 pm

    @5 IMO Delmon Young DOES qualify – at least that’s what I’ve been led to believe by every other media outlet – and I think he beats Pedroia nearly across the board.

    Having seen both of them 19 times this season, I think I can make a fair assessment based on that as well.

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  7. Pete says:
    October 4, 2007 at 3:25 pm

    @4 – I was just using that as an example, but I think considering the events of this past September, we’d be seeing a similar scene in the Mets clubhouse had they backed into the playoffs as well.

    And yes, there’d be hats too. And Mets fans would buy them.

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  8. Paul Moro says:
    October 4, 2007 at 3:29 pm

    And I’d STILL be making fun of it.

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  9. Pete says:
    October 4, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    Hindsight’s a bitch, eh?

    Good luck next year! ;)

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  10. Sarah Green says:
    October 4, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    Ugh, another Delmon Young rooter, eh? Let’s not even talk about his whiny-little-bitch moments. Even if he were a paragon of virtue I would still think the excitement over him was a tad overinflated. Yes, he has a lot of RBI—he’s also hitting at a prime RBI-garnering spot in the lineup. He hits well enough (fourth in AVG of all rookies with enough at-bats to qualify, after Pedroia, Willits, and Tulowitzki). But that’s it. He never walks. Not a power threat. His defense is acceptable, but it’s not going to help him win any prizes. And the schmancy stats (eg, VORP) don’t favor him at all. Aside from the RBI, why do you like this guy? Because he doesn’t play for the Red Sox?

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  11. Pete says:
    October 4, 2007 at 5:08 pm

    >> Let’s not even talk about his whiny-little-bitch moments. >>

    Oh, you mean like Pedroia when A-Rod knocked him on his keister during a DP? ;-)

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  12. Sarah Green says:
    October 4, 2007 at 5:47 pm

    But Pete, why do you like him?

    I mentioned the A-Rod/Pedroia thing in my rookies post. All these different comments threads are getting very intermingled and confusing!

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  13. Pete says:
    October 5, 2007 at 9:58 am

    >> But Pete, why do you like him? >>

    I never said I ‘liked’ him. I don’t much care for ANY player that doesn’t play for my team. All I said was that IMO he deserved the award more than Pedroia, and that’s from seeing both guys play over the course of about 19 games a piece.

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  14. Paul Moro says:
    October 5, 2007 at 10:48 am

    Come on, Sarah. Come on now, Pete.

    BOTH your teams are equally unlikable.

    But Pete, to be fair, there are 162 games in a season. Not 19. There were 143 games you missed. And when you take all 162 games into account, Delmon Young was the worst starting RFer offensively in MLB. There were 21 RFers who came to bat at least 500 times this season. Young finished dead last in OBP (which means he was most likely to make an out out of the 21) and also dead last in Slugging % – and this includes KCs Mark Teahen who somehow hit 7 HRs this year still stayed in the lineup as a RFer.

    And I’m assuming that most of the time that you saw Young play this year was the 18 games TB played the Yankees. During those 18 games, Young hit .299 but had no homeruns and 7 RBIs. It’s nothing special. And in the 15 games that Pedroia played against the Yanks, he had a better batting average, better OBP, and better slugging with the same number of HRs (0) and RBIs (7). So it’s not like Young actually played better in those times you saw him.

    Trust me when I say this – the last thing I want to do is further inflate the ego of Red Sox fans. But as for this year, Pedroia was a better player. I do think that when it’s all said and done that Delmon has a good shot to have the better career.

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  15. Sarah Green says:
    October 5, 2007 at 1:05 pm

    Paul, both teams may be “equally unlikable” in the current context (or are you referring to their fans?) but there’s no doubt that Yankees have been unlikable for longer, giving them the edge in that dubious contest. :)

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  16. Pete says:
    October 5, 2007 at 4:47 pm

    >> but there’s no doubt that Yankees have been unlikable for longer, giving them the edge in that dubious contest. :) >>

    ‘Unlikable’ for winning 26 championships is understandable, but becoming ‘equally unlikable’ for winning but *one* in the same amount of time?

    Now that’s an accomplishment! ;)

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  17. Sarah Green says:
    October 5, 2007 at 5:00 pm

    Just more grist for Red Sox Nation’s endlessly grinding insecurity mill! :)

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  18. Jack Friend says:
    December 24, 2007 at 6:03 pm

    Many people from Philadelphia (and no one from anywhere else) pronounce this surname the way Mark does. Is he from Philly?

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  19. Sarah Green says:
    December 26, 2007 at 7:05 pm

    Jack, Shapiro was born in Baltimore. But interestingly enough, the author of this post—Coley Ward—does hail from Philly.

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  20. Ken Shapiro says:
    November 7, 2014 at 12:59 am

    In Philadelphia and south Jersey we say it that way. Like Sha pie ro.
    Most people from NY pronounce it the other way.

    If you read it, there is no E in Shapiro, it would look like shapeero.

    How do you say this word – pi ?

    I answer to both….

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