Gene Bacque
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| Gene Bacque | ||
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Strikeouts | 825 | |
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Gene Bacque (August 12, 1937 – September 14, 2019) was an American
Biography
Career
Bacque graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), and joined the minor league Hawaii Islanders. He was cut shortly afterwards, and a Japanese sportswriter encouraged him to try out in Japan.
He was signed by the Hanshin Tigers in August 1962. Bacque was not given a translator when he first joined the Tigers, and he and his family of four had to live in a poor neighborhood in Japan. However, he went on to learn fluent Japanese, and became respected by teammates as one of the best non-Japanese players ever to play on the Tigers.
He learned a
Bacque marked a 29–9 record with a 1.89 ERA in 1964, leading the league in wins and ERA to become the first non-Japanese player to receive the
Bacque threw a
Retirement
After retiring, Bacque worked as an industrial arts teacher at a junior high school in
See also
References
- ^ Fitts, Robert K. "Gene Bacque," Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005), p. 77.
- ^ Foote, Kevin. "Gene Bacque, Cajuns Baseball Hall of Famer, dies at 82: 'He was one of a kind'". The Acadiana Advocate. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
External links
- Nippon Professional Baseball career statistics from JapaneseBaseball.com