The Flyin' Hawaiian (TM)

Shane Victorino, despite looking a little shaky with the bat, is having a pretty useful season. He's among the league leaders in steals, having only been caught twice. And he is the outright leader in outfield assists (Carlos Delgado helped add to the total this past weekend).

But I was a little surprised to read this at the bottom of this recap in the Philadelphia Inquirer last week, after his walkoff home run:

He hopes to trademark his "Flyin' Hawaiian" nickname and use it to market a clothing line. The logo will be his home state's island chain. The second-year player figures that sort of thing is a long way off.

"That stuff comes after you get famous," he said before the game.

Walkoff homers foster fame.

Indeed they do, but I think Shane is right to wait and see on the apparel-selling fame. It turns out he's not the first "Flyin' Hawaiian." In fact there's a drink called that already, among other things. The Google search lists as the #2 result the MySpace page of a guy who claims his friends have been calling him "The Flyin' Hawaiian" since 1990 (when he moved to Oklahoma).

My only point here is that the road to riches from the "Flyin' Hawaiian" name will be fraught with IP peril, and that's if, if he becomes a very famous baseball player. Fortunately his day job pays quite well.