Not Quite A Padre

This morning (Thursday) it was widely reported that former pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead, the cause of death believed to be suicide. Irabu's career was largely unspectacular despite arriving to the United States amidst hype not seen before from a Japanese player.

Fans of the San Diego Padres during the latter half of the 1990s recall the arrival of Hideki Irabu from his Japanese team, the Chiba Lotte Marines. He is not remembered fondly.

After his purchase from Japan he refused to play for the San Diego Padres and forced a trade to the New York Yankees.* He didn't do a whole lot in New York and bounced around to a few teams before eventually calling it quits in the US.

But this is not a retrospective on the career of Hideki Irabu.

If I had said the name Hideki Irabu prior to this morning, as a Padre fan you would have likely scowled and uttered an unkind epithet or two. I would have done the same. It is my natural inclination towards any professional athlete who arrives on the scene making grandiose demands.

But to hear the name Hideki Irabu now, it is the name of a man who took his own life. Upon discovering this truth we are inclined to place him in the context in which we knew him: the Japanese pitcher who demanded his way out of San Diego.** We cursed him for it and then gladly accepted Ruben Rivera from the New York Yankees. We didn't need Hideki Irabu. The young Rivera was destined for greatness.***

I guess my point here is that it must be terribly unsettling to fail spectacularly... and for the world to bear witness. The world doesn't often forget such defeats of man. So when we hear the name of Hideki Irabu on a Thursday morning in July it is his failures that are used to place him in context. And then a split second later we hear the echo... that he took his own life. This is unfair.

I'll try to remember Hideki Irabu less as the villain who was not quite a Padre and more as the pitcher whose fastball left Nolan Ryan impressed. For those who knew Hideki Irabu on a personal level I'm sure there are many fine things that will be said of him.

*Hideki Irabu's decision to hold the Padres ransom was not without its benefits. In 1997 a young man would receive inspiration in the form of an Irabu-centric rant. It formed the foundation of Ducksnorts, the longest running San Diego Padres blog. Read what Geoff Young wrote back in September of 1997.

** Hideki Irabu was the first coming of Eli Manning.


*** $#%&!!!!!