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

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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.

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• 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).

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