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Hideki Irabu

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Full Name: Hideki Irabu Primary Position: P
Height/Weight: 6' 4"/240 First Game: July 10, 1997
Birthdate: May 5, 1969 Final Game: July 12, 2002
Birthplace: Hyogo, Japan MLB Experience: 6 years
Bat/Throw: Right/Right
Rate this Player
1.71
(14 votes)

Contents

  • 1 Biography
  • 2 Statistics
    • 2.1 Pitching Stats
    • 2.2 Fielding Stats
    • 2.3 Batting Stats
  • 3 Transactions
  • 4 Trivia
  • 5 Video Gallery
  • 6 Picture Gallery
  • 7 See Also
  • 8 Categories

[edit] Biography

Hideki Irabu (Japanese: 伊良部 秀輝, born in Hyogo, Japan on May 15, 1969) is a former professional baseball player.

Irabu pitched for the Lotte Orions, who later became the Chiba Lotte Marines, of the Pacific League from 1988 to 1996. He was known as the high-speed ball pitcher and in 1993, he threw 158km/h of streight ball against Kazuhiro Kiyohara, Seibu Lions. This is the fastest in Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) until 2005, broken by Marc Kroon in Yokohama Bay Stars, and is still the Pacific League record. Irabu was prized the leader of Pacific League in wins in 1994 (27 games, 207 1/3 innings, 15 wins - 10 loses - 0 saves, 239 strikeouts, ERA 3.04), and in ERA in 1995 and 1996 (1995 - 28, 203, 11-11-0, 239, 2.53; 1996 - 18, 157 1/3, 12-6-0, 167, 2.40). In these successive years, Irabu monopolized the title of the most strikeout taking pitcher in his league.

In 1997, the San Diego Padres purchased his contract from the Chiba Lotte Marines. This signing is especially notable because it led to the creation of the posting system currently used by Japanese and MLB teams [1]. Irabu, however, refused to sign with the Padres, saying he would only play with the Yankees. For the negotiating rights to Irabu, the Yankees offered the Padres a choice of one from a list of players including Brian Boehringer, David Weathers, Chris Cumberland, Andy Fox, and Matt Luke. The Padres would eventually include him as a player-to-be-named-later in a trade that involved Homer Bush and Irabu traveling to the New York Yankees in exchange for Rafael Medina, Ruben Rivera, and $3 million in cash. The Yankees signed him to a $12.8 million, four-year contract, and after only eight minor league games, the Yankees put him in their rotation.

He played with the Yankees from 1997 through 1999, winning two World Series rings (1998, 1999) despite only pitching in one postseason game and having no postseason decisions. George Steinbrenner publicly expressed disgust at his weight, at one point calling him a "fat pussy toad" (the middle word rhyming with "fussy" and meaning "filled with pus", rather than being a reference to female genitals) after he failed to cover first base on a ground ball during a spring training game. Steinbrenner refused to let Irabu accompany the team to Los Angeles, but two days later, Steinbrenner apologized and allowed Irabu to join the team.[2] 1998 was his best season in MLB, featuring career bests in games started (28), complete games (2), innings pitched (173), wins (13), and ERA (4.06). His high salary at the time and lack of performance led many Yankees fans to nickname him Hideki "I rob you", a play on his last name Irabu.

After the 1999 season, he was traded to the Montreal Expos for Ted Lilly, Christian Parker, and Jake Westbrook. He started only 14 games for the Expos in 2000 and 2001, pitching 71⅓ innings with a 6.69 ERA and only 2 wins against 7 losses. In 2002, he signed as a free agent to pitch for the Texas Rangers as a closer. At the end of the year, Irabu moved back to Japan to pitch in the Hanshin Tigers' starting rotation for the 2003 season, helping the team win the Central League pennant for the first time since 1985. When Major League Baseball opened its 2004 season in Tokyo, he pitched against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Today Irabu is retired and living in California.

Over the course of six MLB seasons, Irabu's career totals are 126 games, 514 innings, 34 wins, 35 losses, 16 saves, 405 strikeouts, and a 5.15 ERA. In Japan for eleven seasons - 273 games, 1,286 1/3 innings, 72 wins, 69 loses, 11 saves, 1,282 strikeouts, and a 3.55 ERA.


[edit] Statistics

[edit] Pitching Stats

Year Team G GS W L ERA K R ER CG SHO SV IP H HR BB IB WP HBP
1997 NY A 13 9 5 4 7.09 56 47 42 0 0 0 53.1 69 15 20 0 4 1
1998 NY A 29 28 13 9 4.06 126 79 78 2 1 0 173 148 27 76 1 6 9
1999 NY A 32 27 11 7 4.84 133 98 91 2 1 0 169.1 180 26 46 0 7 6
2000 MON N 11 11 2 5 7.24 42 45 44 0 0 0 54.2 77 9 14 0 5 1
2001 MON N 3 3 0 2 4.86 18 9 9 0 0 0 16.2 22 3 3 0 0 0
2002 TEX A 38 2 3 8 5.74 30 30 30 0 0 16 47 51 11 16 2 3 1
Total NL 14 14 2 7 6.69 60 54 53 0 0 0 71.1 99 12 17 0 5 1
Total AL 112 66 32 28 4.90 345 254 241 4 2 16 442.2 448 79 158 3 20 17
Total 126 80 34 35 5.15 405 308 294 4 2 16 514 547 91 175 3 25 18

[edit] Fielding Stats

Year Team POS G GS INN PO A ERR DP TP PB SB CS PkO AVG
1997 NY A P 13 9 53.1 1 5 2 1 0 0 9 2 2 .750
1998 NY A P 29 28 173 6 17 2 1 0 0 16 9 2 .920
1999 NY A P 32 27 169.1 2 13 0 0 0 0 19 4 1 1.000
2000 MON N P 11 11 54.2 2 6 0 0 0 0 12 1 0 1.000
2001 MON N P 3 3 16.2 0 5 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 1.000
2002 TEX A P 38 2 47 2 9 0 1 0 0 7 1 0 1.000
Total P 126 80 514 13 55 4 3 0 0 67 18 6 .944

[edit] Batting Stats

Year Team G AB R H HR RBI AVG OBP SLG 2B 3B BB SO HBP SH SB IBB GDP
1997 NY A 13 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1998 NY A 29 4 0 1 0 0 .250 .250 .250 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0
1999 NY A 32 4 0 0 0 0 .000 .200 .000 0 0 1 3 0 2 0 0 0
2000 MON N 11 16 1 2 0 1 .125 .125 .125 0 0 0 7 0 2 0 0 1
2001 MON N 3 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2002 TEX A 38 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total NL 14 19 1 2 0 1 .105 .105 .105 0 0 0 7 0 2 0 0 1
Total AL 112 9 0 1 0 0 .111 .200 .111 0 0 1 6 0 3 0 0 0
Total 126 28 1 3 0 1 .107 .138 .107 0 0 1 13 0 5 0 0 1

[edit] Transactions

  • Sold by Chiba Lotte Marines (Japan Pacific) to San Diego Padres (January 13, 1997).
  • Traded by San Diego Padres to New York Yankees (May 29, 1997) as part of trade in which New York Yankees traded Rafael Medina, Ruben Rivera and $3 million to San Diego Padres in exchange for Homer Bush, Gordon Amerson and 2 players to be named later (April 22, 1997); New York Yankees received Vernon Maxwell (June 9, 1997).
  • Traded by New York Yankees to Montreal Expos in exchange for Jake Westbrook and 2 players to be named later (December 22, 1999); New York Yankees received Ted Lilly (March 17, 2000) and Christian Parker (March 22, 2000).
  • Released by Montreal Expos (September 6, 2001).
  • Signed by Texas Rangers (December 27, 2001).

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Video Gallery

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[edit] Picture Gallery

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[edit] See Also

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Retrieved from "http://www.armchairgm.com/Hideki_Irabu"

This page was last modified 21:04, 7 November 2007. Content is available under the GFDL.

Categories: Athletes | Baseball Players | Retired Athletes | Retired Baseball Players | Pitchers | Athletes with the Last Name Irabu | Baseball Players with the Last Name Irabu | Athletes with the First Name Hideki | Baseball Players with the First Name Hideki | Athletes Born in May | Baseball Players Born in May | Athletes Born on May 5 | Baseball Players Born on May 5 | Athletes Born in 1969 | Baseball Players Born in 1969 | Athletes Born in May 1969 | Baseball Players Born in May 1969 | Athletes Born on May 5, 1969 | Baseball Players Born on May 5, 1969 | Athletes Born in Hyogo, Japan | Baseball Players Born in Hyogo, Japan | Athletes Born in Japan | Baseball Players Born in Japan | New York Yankees Players | Montreal Expos Players | Texas Rangers Players | 1997 New York Yankees Players | 1998 New York Yankees Players | 1999 New York Yankees Players | 2000 Montreal Expos Players | 2001 Montreal Expos Players | 2002 Texas Rangers Players | Baseball Players who bat Right Handed | Baseball Players who throw Right Handed | Athletes Who Debuted in July | Baseball Players Who Debuted in July | Athletes Who Debuted on July 10 | Baseball Players Who Debuted on July 10 | Athletes Who Debuted in 1997 | Baseball Players Who Debuted in 1997 | Athletes Who Debuted in July 1997 | Baseball Players Who Debuted in July 1997 | Athletes Who Debuted on July 10, 1997 | Baseball Players Who Debuted on July 10, 1997 | Athletes Who Played Their Last Game in July | Baseball Players Who Played Their Last Game in July | Athletes Who Played Their Last Game on July 12 | Baseball Players Who Played Their Last Game on July 12 | Athletes Who Played Their Last Game in 2002 | Baseball Players Who Played Their Last Game in 2002 | Athletes Who Played Their Last Game in July 2002 | Baseball Players Who Played Their Last Game in July 2002 | Athletes Who Played Their Last Game on July 12, 2002 | Baseball Players Who Played Their Last Game on July 12, 2002 | Baseball Players Who Debuted with New York Yankees | Players with 5 years experience in the Major Leagues | Baseball Players with 5 years experience in the Major Leagues | Players with at least 100 Games | Pitchers with at least 50 Home Runs Allowed | Pitchers with at least 100 Walks | Pitchers with at least 50 Games Started | Pitchers with at least 162 Innings Pitched | Pitchers with at least 250 Innings Pitched | Pitchers with at least 500 Innings Pitched | Pitchers with at least 25 Wild Pitches | Pitchers with at least 100 Earned Runs Allowed | Pitchers with at least 200 Earned Runs Allowed | Pitchers with at least 100 Runs Allowed | Pitchers with at least 200 Runs Allowed | Pitchers with at least 500 Hits Allowed | Pitchers with at least 50 Games | Pitchers with at least 100 Games | Baseball Players Who Debuted at age 28

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