Hideki Irabu found dead in his Los Angeles home
by Gen on Jul.29, 2011 @ 5:51 am, under Other
Asahi Shimbun is reporting that Hideki Irabu was found dead in his house in Los Angeles (he was apparently found hanging).
The New York Daily News has more. A snip:
Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu, a hard-throwing righthander touted as a superstar when he arrived in New York from Japan, was found dead in his Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. home Thursday, according to the team.
He was 42.
Multiple reports indicate that police are investigating the death as a suicide, although those reports were unconfirmed as of Thursday afternoon.
TMZ has a little more information:
Former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead yesterday in his California home -- and law enforcement sources tell TMZ, it appears he committed suicide by hanging himself. We're told a friend found him.
L.A. County Coroner is still trying to locate next of kin.
Irabu attempted a comeback in 2009 with the Kochi Fighting Dogs but ended up calling it quits in 2010 because of right wrist problems. He also recently made the headlines when he was arrested on suspicions of drunk driving.
UPDATE 8/1 @ 2:47pm - According to Nikkan Sports, Irabu was hoping to make his way into film. It also appears as though Irabu struggled to keep himself occupied after retirement -- he apparently spent a lot of time renting and watching videos to pass the time. And while he was living in the US, Irabu really wanted to return to Japan.
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Career Stats
| Year | Tm | G | GS | CG | ShO | W | L | Sv | Hld | WPCT | BF | IP | H | HR | BB | IBB | HBP | SO | WP | BLK | R | ER | ERA | WHIP |
| 1988 | LOT | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | -- | .286 | 162 | 39.1 | 30 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 17 | 3.89 | 1.22 |
| 1989 | LOT | 33 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | -- | .000 | 211 | 51.0 | 37 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 6 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 3.53 | 1.25 |
| 1990 | LOT | 34 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | -- | .615 | 544 | 123.2 | 110 | 6 | 72 | 1 | 7 | 102 | 12 | 2 | 58 | 52 | 3.78 | 1.47 |
| 1991 | LOT | 24 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | -- | .273 | 471 | 100.2 | 110 | 20 | 70 | 0 | 1 | 78 | 10 | 1 | 78 | 77 | 6.88 | 1.79 |
| 1992 | LOT | 28 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -- | .000 | 336 | 77.0 | 78 | 2 | 37 | 0 | 1 | 55 | 4 | 1 | 38 | 33 | 3.86 | 1.49 |
| 1993 | LOT | 32 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 1 | -- | .533 | 592 | 142.1 | 125 | 11 | 58 | 0 | 6 | 160 | 6 | 1 | 59 | 49 | 3.10 | 1.29 |
| 1994 | LOT | 27 | 26 | 16 | 1 | 15 | 10 | 0 | -- | .600 | 870 | 207.1 | 170 | 16 | 94 | 2 | 6 | 239 | 13 | 2 | 77 | 70 | 3.04 | 1.27 |
| 1995 | LOT | 28 | 27 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 0 | -- | .500 | 835 | 203.0 | 156 | 9 | 72 | 1 | 9 | 239 | 11 | 1 | 70 | 57 | 2.53 | 1.12 |
| 1996 | LOT | 23 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 0 | -- | .667 | 639 | 157.1 | 108 | 7 | 59 | 0 | 3 | 167 | 7 | 4 | 56 | 42 | 2.40 | 1.06 |
| 1997 | NYY | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 | -- | .556 | 246 | 53.1 | 69 | 15 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 4 | 3 | 47 | 42 | 7.09 | 1.67 |
| 1998 | NYY | 29 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 9 | 0 | -- | .591 | 732 | 173.0 | 148 | 27 | 76 | 1 | 9 | 126 | 6 | 1 | 78 | 78 | 4.06 | 1.29 |
| 1999 | NYY | 32 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .611 | 733 | 169.1 | 180 | 26 | 46 | 0 | 6 | 133 | 7 | 0 | 98 | 91 | 4.84 | 1.33 |
| 2000 | MON | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .286 | 247 | 54.2 | 77 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 42 | 5 | 2 | 45 | 44 | 7.24 | 1.66 |
| 2001 | MON | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 74 | 16.2 | 22 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 4.86 | 1.50 |
| 2002 | TEX | 38 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 2 | .273 | 204 | 47.0 | 51 | 11 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 30 | 5.74 | 1.43 |
| 2003 | HAN | 27 | 27 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 0 | -- | .619 | 730 | 173.0 | 186 | 24 | 47 | 0 | 6 | 164 | 4 | 0 | 77 | 74 | 3.85 | 1.35 |
| 2004 | HAN | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | .000 | 62 | 11.2 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 17 | 13.11 | 2.57 |
| NPB | 273 | 159 | 43 | 3 | 72 | 69 | 11 | -- | .511 | 5452 | 1286.1 | 1136 | 108 | 558 | 4 | 43 | 1282 | 74 | 14 | 560 | 508 | 3.55 | 1.32 | |
| MLB | 126 | 80 | 4 | 2 | 34 | 35 | 16 | 2 | .493 | 2236 | 514.0 | 547 | 91 | 175 | 3 | 18 | 405 | 25 | 6 | 307 | 294 | 5.15 | 1.40 | |
I have never been an Irabu fan, but, regardless, that is horribly sad. Just picturing the guy getting down to the point where he strung himself up and kicked away the chair… 42 is much too young for anyone anyone to die and to be apparently so unhappy for much of that time is not something anyone deserves.
Very sad. Don’t really know anything about his personal life, but at age 42 I hope his failures at making a comeback didn’t drive him to it. Its OK to not be good enough anymore at that age! I’m sure he could have found gainful employment in Japan in some baseball capacity. Just a total waste. Goodbye “Japanese Roger Clemens.”
Awful.