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Baseball, Sushi and Apple Pie

Graig Fantuzzi’s days as a record-setting outfielder for the Washington and Lee baseball team are behind him, but his love of the sport has clearly not diminished. That helps explain what the 1996 W&L graduate (and class valedictorian) was doing cutting up raw tuna alongside Boston Red Sox pitcher Hideki Okajima at a Japanese restaurant in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood earlier this summer.

According to, Graig and his wife, Jacqueline, joined Hideki and his wife, Yuka, for lessons in sushi-making followed by dinner at Basho Japanese Brasserie. Graig made the winning bid for the evening with Hideki at a May fund-raiser for Good Sports, a non-profit based in Boston whose aim is to increase participation of disadvantaged kids in sports and fitness activities.

Graig was a three-time Academic All-American and won an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. His .482 batting average during the 1994 season is still second all-time for the Generals. He also holds the record for stolen bases in a game (5) and is second in career stolen bases.

Graig is currently a senior vice president at Harvard Management Co. The Globe piece noted that he and Jacqueline have been in Boston for three years and consider themselves Yankees and Red Sox fans. Hopefully, they didn’t make Hideki aware of their dual allegiance until after he’d put the sushi knife away.

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