Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu found dead

[Porter]

Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu found dead - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead of an apparent suicide in the wealthy Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes, authorities said Thursday.

The body of Irabu, 42, was found at 4:25 p.m. PDT Wednesday, county sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Arriaga said.

“He was found dead by an apparent suicide,” he said.

Irabu lived in Rancho Palos Verdes but it was not immediately clear whether it was his home, the sergeant said.

Other details were not immediately released.

This is tragic. Rest in peace Hideki. Complete surprise.

[love_that_reefer]

I will always remember as being labeled the "Japanese Nolan Ryan" and not coming close to being anything like him. According to baseball-reference.com, he made $15.5 million over his career so I wonder if he kept his finances in order or if he blew it all which lead to his suicide. You never want to see a former play kill himself like that.

[Kingdom]

According to Buster Olney on twitter, Itabu was always sad when he covered him. Sounds like untreated depression.

[realmofotalk]

His wife had left him and taken their two kids with her. Sad to hear about that.

[HollywoodLeo]

I'll always remember Irubu as the can't miss Japanese prospect who spurned the Padres forcing them to trade him for an even better can't miss prized prospect in Ruben Rivera.

As for the actual story, though, R.I.P. I hate hearing about suicides.

[Tobywan]

Seems to be an epidemic this week. The Olympian Peterson, the singer Winehouse and now Irabu basically ending their lives early by their own hand. Technically, Winehouse hasn’t been ruled a suicide but she has been killing herself for years.

Peterson had been having some issues with alcohol, Winehouse with drugs in and out of rehab and now Irabu it seems was distraught about losing his family and had a drunk driving incident in recent years, too.

You can never tell whether someone can survive setbacks in their lives and which ones cave to the demons.
It just makes me wonder , because I was in a situation many years ago where I basically lost everything and could have easily just laid down and given up but people around me kept an eagle eye on me and in fact still do. I just don’t understand how it is possible that if friends and family see you slipping into hell they don’t throw a rope around you and help pull you back.

[Laurenmaark]

wow....that great score board

[Jim Colyer]

Wow! First I've heard of that!

[hatreserve]

My prayers go out to his and his family.