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Sad.
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Sad.
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Yes, sad news. You always wonder if a guy like Irabu might have had some success if he had started somewhere else besides the crushing pressure of the New York Yankees and George Steinbrenner in his prime.
quote:Originally posted by Three Bagger:
Yes, sad news. You always wonder if a guy like Irabu might have had some success if he had started somewhere else besides the crushing pressure of the New York Yankees and George Steinbrenner in his prime.
Who knows. I guess he just never adjusted to life in the States.
San Diego purchased his contract but said he would only play for the for the Yankees, so he kind of put himself in this spot.
I wonder who scouted this guy for the Yankees because Irabu was nothing like the pitcher they claimed him to be such as his 98MPH fast ball and was supposedly the Japanese Nolan Ryan.
How you could have millions and want to end it all is beyond me. Go figure.
I thought I read somewhere that Irabu's father was an American serviceman who did not stay to raise him. If this is true maybe Irabu was kind of caught between two cultures having been raised strictly Japanese but with American size and characteristics. Of course this would be psychological stuff that is way above my understanding. Or of course maybe as zombywoof says, he was overhyped by the Yankees scouting and couldn't live up to expectations.
quote:I wonder who scouted this guy for the Yankees because Irabu was nothing like the pitcher they claimed him to be such as his 98MPH fast ball and was supposedly the Japanese Nolan Ryan.
Well, he was clocked once at 98 mph in Japan. But you may want to read this piece by Buster Olney which appeared in early 1999. He actually did show some resemblance to Ryan before things went downhill.
This is sad 
Kind of reminds of Donnie Moore.
Kind of reminds of Donnie Moore.
quote:Originally posted by 3FingeredGlove:
[QUOTE]
Well, he was clocked once at 98 mph in Japan. But you may want to read this piece by Buster Olney which appeared in early 1999. He actually did show some resemblance to Ryan before things went downhill.
My guess is that the 98MPH was maximum effort because I saw a lot of Irabu pitching and he was nowhere near 98 in any of his outings as a Yankee. He had a couple of good pitching streaks as a Yankee but he didn't dominate and he never sustained any long term success considering all the hype. Like I said, I don't know what the scouts saw but it's too bad whatever problems he had, he decided to check out.