July 10, 1997: Hideki Irabu brings Japan to Yankee Stadium

“[Hideki Irabu] literally took on a nation to come here. He said, ‘I want New York,’” exclaimed New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner after his new pitcher’s successful debut in US major-league baseball.1

Indeed, the road to the Big Apple for the nine-year veteran megastar of Japan’s Pacific League was rocky; systematic restrictions inhibited Japanese player transfers to major-league clubs at that time. In January 1997, the San Diego Padres struck a working arrangement with Irabu’s prior team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, granting them exclusive rights to the services of the “real deal” 27-year-old, whose velocity approached 100 miles per hour.2

However, contract negotiations stumbled over Irabu’s insistence on signing only with the Yankees, sending the frustrated right-hander back to Japan where he threatened to forgo the season. But after monthslong wranglings, the Yankees finally picked up Irabu’s negotiating rights from the Padres in an April trade, culminating in a $12.8 million contract signed in late May.

In preparation for “The Show,” Irabu was given a handful of minor-league tune-ups. Steinbrenner himself attended the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder’s July 5 start for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers. Irabu did not disappoint, allowing only two hits over seven scoreless innings against the Toledo Mud Hens. “He was impressive,” the Yankees owner gushed.3

After Irabu pleased The Boss, the second-place Yankees penciled him in for the start against the middling division-rival Detroit Tigers on the evening of July 10. A circus-like atmosphere grew in anticipation of the fireballer’s big-league debut. Likened to iconic moundsman Nolan Ryan, Irabu was welcomed to New York the day before his premiere by Mayor Rudy Giuliani with “posters waving and organ music blaring at top volume” in a celebration at City Hall.4 And game day brought added “hysteria,” with “300 media members, a dozen satellite television trucks and one news helicopter” helping to give a “World Series feel to a midseason game.”5

With the soon-to-be sixth-ever Japanese major leaguer generating “even more hype” than fellow countryman Hideo Nomo did upon his arrival stateside two years earlier, a large contingent of media members from Japan was present.6 They would have to wait, however, as Steinbrenner received special dispensation from acting Commissioner Bud Selig to close the Yankees’ clubhouse prior to the game to protect his players from an impending media frenzy.

Before the game Steinbrenner commented that he had “never seen pressure on a rookie anywhere like there is on Irabu.”7 And Yankees manager Joe Torre admitted that his new pitcher would face an “intimidating atmosphere.”8 Perhaps fittingly, Irabu warmed up to the song “Welcome to the Jungle” by the rock band Guns N’ Roses in front of 51,901 fans at Yankee Stadium.9 Another 35 million people were expected to view the contest on Japanese television.

Early on, Irabu displayed pinpoint control in setting down in order the first six Tigers batters – four of them via strikeouts. “When I got out on the mound, all the things that I went through in the last six months came to me in a flashback,” Irabu said after the game through a translator. “I really had that on my mind. I had to change the channel. I knew I was part of this team now, and I had to do what I could to contribute.”10 Detroit’s journeyman starter Omar Olivares likewise held New York’s potent lineup scoreless after two innings.

Irabu faced his first struggles in the top of the third, which caused his “famed temper” to briefly flare.11 A walk to Curtis Pride followed by Raul Casanova’s base hit set the table for an RBI single by Deivi Cruz. Despite allowing another free pass later in the inning, Irabu was able to pitch out of further trouble.

The Yankees’ offense came alive in the bottom of the third. With one out, Irabu’s batterymate Joe Girardi drew a walk, and Derek Jeter followed with an infield single. Olivares retired the next batter, but a costly two-out throwing error by catcher Casanova scored Girardi and gave the Yankees new life. Slugger Tino Martinez took advantage of Detroit’s miscue by drilling a tiebreaking three-run round-tripper off the second-deck facing in right field.

Now working with a 4-1 lead, Irabu struck out power-hitting Tony Clark on a changeup to begin the top of the fourth. After Bob Hamelin followed with a single, the “hulking” hurler “turned the crowd delirious” when he used his “vicious splitter” to strike out the next two Tigers hitters and end the frame.12 Olivares also settled down in the latter half of the inning to retire the bottom of the Yankees lineup without incident.

Casanova’s leadoff double and Bobby Higginson’s two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth shrank New York’s lead to 4-2. After getting two quick strikes on the potential third out, Irabu reeled off eight consecutive balls to load the bases. This prompted a mound visit featuring pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and a congregation of teammates. Evading the language barrier, “Girardi simply stared at Irabu and exaggerated his breathing motion, his way of instructing the pitcher to calm down.”13 The rookie hurler did just that, retiring Hamelin on a first-pitch groundout to end the shaky inning.

The Yankees bounced back in the bottom of the fifth. Jeter and Luis Sojo led off with back-to-back singles. A sacrifice fly from Bernie Williams scored Jeter. An intentional pass to Martinez to set up a potential double play backfired when Paul O’Neill’s double brought Sojo home and sent Detroit starter Olivares to the showers. Before finally shutting the door on the offensive flurry, reliever Jose Bautista allowed an RBI infield single by Charlie Hayes that extended the Yankees’ lead to 7-2.

After cruising through a one-two-three top of the sixth, Irabu watched his teammates blow the game open in the bottom half of the frame. Parlaying two hits off Bautista and four walks off his successor, Roberto Duran, into another three runs, New York padded its lead to 10-2 before Doug Brocail took the mound to stop the bleeding. O’Neill, Hayes, and Chad Curtis each collected an RBI in the inning – all on walks.

Despite retiring the first two batters in the top of the seventh, Irabu saw his magical debut end after 99 pitches. In his 6⅔ innings of work, Irabu allowed two earned runs on five hits and four walks. He struck out nine, recorded by fans who posted large placards in the stadium using the Japanese word for strikeout, “providing a touch of Tokyo in the South Bronx.”14 Manager Torre was “booed slightly” when he called upon bullpen arm Jeff Nelson, “but that quickly turned to thunderous applause as Irabu trotted off”; the standing ovation continued until the rookie eventually took a curtain call.15 The only scoring the rest of the way came via a solo home run off Nelson by the Tigers’ Clark in the eighth.

“The experience was more than I dreamed about or imagined for this night,” Irabu said after the 10-3 drubbing of Detroit. “I wouldn’t sell this night for anything.”16 His teammates – several of whom were initially “unhappy” with the big money and roster spot handed to what they perceived as unproven talent – were won over by the fine performance.17 Star Yankees hurler David Cone praised Irabu’s intangible “knack” for pitching, while teammate Martinez thought he “showed a lot of composure out there and a lot of maturity.”18 And Girardi added that the newest Yankee was “everything they built him up to be – and maybe a little more.”19

Curiously, the overmatched Tigers provided tepid reviews of Irabu’s outing. Detroit manager Buddy Bell offered only a backhanded compliment in reference to his opponent’s “stuff,” while Higginson noted that he “didn’t throw as hard as I thought he would.”20 And Tigers third baseman Travis Fryman had this to say of Irabu: “I was not impressed with his forkball. His fastball was straight as an arrow.”21

Detroit’s critique of Irabu may have been skewed by sour grapes, but it nonetheless proved to be quite prescient. After struggling in his next three starts, Irabu was briefly demoted to Columbus. Continuing to disappoint upon rejoining the Yankees, he finished the campaign with a bloated 7.09 ERA in 13 games. Never living up to the lofty expectations, he ultimately spent six lackluster major-league seasons with three different teams. Irabu’s troubled post-baseball life was riddled with alcoholism, arrests, marital problems, and depression. He committed suicide at age 42.

Despite the tragic ending to his story, Irabu played a key role in the establishment of the modern Japanese posting system with his battle to join the Yankees. “He will go down in history for fighting for players’ rights in Japan, by refusing to accept the Lotte trade to San Diego,” author Robert Whiting, an authority on Japanese baseball, declared.22 And at least for one special moment in time on July 10, 1997, Irabu’s “lifelong odyssey from a Japanese industrial town to Yankee Stadium culminated with an extraordinary night in the Bronx.”23

Sources

The author accessed Baseball-Reference.com (baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199707100.shtml) for box scores/play-by-play information and other data, as well as Retrosheet (retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1997/B07100NYA1997.htm). In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also accessed GenealogyBank.com, NewspaperArchive.com, Newspapers.com, and Paper of Record.

Notes

1 Jack Curry, “A Midseason Classic: Irabu Wins His Debut,” New York Times, July 11, 1997, nytimes.com/1997/07/11/sports/a-midseason-classic-irabu-wins-his-debut.html, accessed August 3, 2022.

2 Jon Heyman, “Irabu the Class of His ‘A’ Debut,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), June 11, 1997: A75.

3 Carlos Frias, “Boss: Irabu ‘Impressive,’” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 6, 1997: C5.

4 Malcolm Moran, “Yankees Get Rights to Irabu in Deal With Padres,” New York Times, April 23, 1997, nytimes.com/1997/04/23/sports/yankees-get-rights-to-irabu-in-deal-with-padres.html, accessed August 3, 2022; Paul H.B. Shin, “Land of Rising Sum,” New York Daily News, July 10, 1997: 7.

5 Rita Ciolli, “Fans Flock to Irabu,” Newsday, July 11, 1997: A81.

6 John Lowe, “Striking Debut,” Detroit Free Press, July 11, 1977: 4C.

7 Ian O’Connor, “He’s Still Boss Man,” New York Daily News, July 10, 1997: 82.

8 John Giannone, “Inside Irabu,” New York Daily News, July 9, 1997: 25C.

9 Jon Heyman, “A Countdown to Craziness,” Newsday, July 11, 1997: A80.

10 Curry, “A Midseason Classic: Irabu Wins His Debut.”

11 David Lennon, “Irabu Makes Believers Fast,” Newsday, July 11, 1997: A71.

12 Curry; John Giannone, “Irabu Ks 9 in Stunning Debut,” New York Daily News, July 11, 1997: 77.

13 Ian O’Connor, “Irabu Catches Break With Joe,” New York Daily News, July 11, 1997: 78.

14 Curry.

15 Giannone, “Irabu Ks 9 in Stunning Debut.”

16 Curry.

17 Joe Gergen, “Irabu Makes Believers Fast,” Newsday, July 11, 1997: A83.

18 Lowe, “Striking Debut”; Lennon, “Irabu Makes Believers Fast,” A82.

19 Lowe, “Striking Debut.”

20 Tom Gage, “Irabu Caps Tigers’ Bad Day,” Detroit News, July 11, 1997: 1F.

21 Lowe, “Striking Debut,” 1C.

22 Daisuke Wakabayashi, “Japan Baseball Players’ Debt to Hideki Irabu,” Wall Street Journal, wsj.com/articles/BL-JRTB-10441, July 29, 2011, accessed August 10, 2022.

23 Lennon, “Irabu Makes Believers Fast,” A82.