Hideki Irabu Dead

[Mulboyne]

Reports are coming in that baseball pitcher Hideki Irabu has been found dead at his home in Los Angeles. Local police are suggesting it may have been suicide.

Link

[Jack]

Local police are suggesting it may have been suicide.

That means they have no clue who'done it and they're not gonna look into it any further.

[Yokohammer]

That means they have no clue who'done it and they're not gonna look into it any further.

Maybe, but Irabu had all the makings of a potential suicide (alcohol dependency, emotionally unstable, once semi-illustrious career in the dumpster ...), so I wouldn't be too surprised if he did top himself.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Poor bloke....had the makings of a great, but it never quite worked out. I'm sure he was an alky, and that makes his suicide a certainty for mine. Hope he's in a peaceful place now.

[American Oyaji]

Yeah, I heard this on the news a couple hours ago. It's really sad.

[matsuki]

I think I've met that d00d before. Ichiro's agent used to take me to hostess bars in Torrence (right next to where Irabu lives..err lived) all the time and we ran into Nomo quite frequently. I was usually too blasted to remember much the next day but there were quite a bit of J-celebs there with seemingly too much money and time and no real social life.

[TennoChinko]

From a truly amazing Japanese baseball blog:

http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2011/07/friday-fake-foto-1987-koshien-magazine.html
[INDENT][/INDENT]



Hideki Irabu R.I.P.

[Taro Toporific]

Hideki Irabu R.I.P.

[INDENT][SIZE="3"]Pitching From Behind[/SIZE]
The sad road of Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu.
By Robert Whiting
Slate.com | Monday, Aug. 1, 2011
[/INDENT]

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

[SIZE="3"]Pitching From Behind[/SIZE]
The sad road of Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu.

That headline makes him look more like a Catholic priest than a baseball hurler...

[Iraira]

[INDENT][SIZE="3"]Pitching From Behind[/SIZE]
The sad road of Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu.
By Robert Whiting
Slate.com | Monday, Aug. 1, 2011
[/INDENT]

That headline makes him look more like an anal sex fiend than a baseball hurler...

[Greji]

That headline makes him look more like a Catholic priest than a baseball hurler...

I was an acquaintance of Irabu's through J-baseball contacts in business if you will. He was interesting to talk with, not only as a great pitcher, but also as a half. However, this is the first I knew that he had actually met his father. What a situation that must have been.
RIP again to a troubled young man....

[matsuki]

I was an acquaintance of Irabu's through J-baseball contacts in business if you will. He was interesting to talk with, not only as a great pitcher, but also as a half. However, this is the first I knew that he had actually met his father. What a situation that must have been.
RIP again to a troubled young man....

Dayam...that must have been weird for him. So much to say but with a that kind of language barrier, that must have been frustrating.

When I think about Irabu today, I remember the tattoo of a dragon on his upper arm and on the lower right side of his back. It was reportedly part of a religion he created himself and in which he believed deeply. If my understanding is correct, he created a dragon in an attempt to protect himself, and to bring some inner peace.

He created his own religion? Got one of those myself but I only let girls into my church. Want to guess how they are baptized?

[Bucky]

Story on Irabu

Though his major-league career couldn't be considered a success, one part of Irabu's plan did come to pass. The pitcher did, indeed, become famous enough that his biological father took notice. Like in some Field of Dreams scene, his father simply showed up at a game. Father and son eventually met, but Irabu felt frustrated that he lacked the English skills to communicate effectively with his dad.

[Mike Oxlong]

Irabu Got Lost on the Road Back
via NYT

[Bucky]

Another follow up on Irabu:

"Life was easiest for Hideki when he was throwing a baseball," said his one-time attorney Jean Afterman. ". . . On the mound, he was in control. The hard thing for him was the rest. Being mixed race, growing up not knowing his father, working under autocratic NPB rules, battling Lotte and San Diego, fighting the urge to drink and smoke. Not being able to play baseball anymore and finally, being alone. He was a fighter but that was too much for him to take on."

[eddie]

poor guy.