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| Gene Bacque | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born:(1937-08-12)August 12, 1937 Lafayette, Louisiana | |
| Died: September 14, 2019(2019-09-14) (aged 82) | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| NPB debut | |
| August, 1962, for the Hanshin Tigers | |
| Last NPB appearance | |
| September, 1969, for the Kintetsu Buffaloes | |
| NPB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 100–80 |
| ERA | 2.34 |
| Strikeouts | 825 |
| Teams | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Gene Bacque (August 12, 1937 – September 14, 2019) was an Americanprofessional baseball pitcher who played inNippon Professional Baseball for theHanshin Tigers andKintetsu Buffaloes.
Bacque graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now theUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette), and joined the minor leagueHawaii Islanders. He was cut shortly afterwards, and aJapanese sportswriter encouraged him to try out inJapan.
He was signed by theHanshin 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 inJapan. However, he went on to learn fluentJapanese, and became respected by teammates as one of the best non-Japanese players ever to play on the Tigers.
He learned aslider from Japanese Hall of FamerMasaaki Koyama,[1] and improved hisknuckleball to enter the starting rotation. He andMinoru Murayama became the crux of the Tigers pitching staff during the 1960s.
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 theEiji Sawamura Award. The Tigers won theCentral League championship that year, and Bacque pitched in the sixth game of theJapan Series againstJoe Stanka of theNankai Hawks (the Hawks won, 4–0).
Bacque threw ano-hitter in 1965 against theYomiuri Giants (becoming the first foreign pitcher in the modern era of Japanese baseball [since the formation of the Central and Pacific Leagues in 1950] to do so), and won over 10 games for five years in a row from 1964 to 1968. In September 1968, Bacque broke his right thumb during a brawl with the Giants, and missed the rest of the season. He was traded to theKintetsu Buffaloes in 1969, but failed to make a comeback, going 0–7 that year. He announced his retirement during the off-season. He is tied withJoe Stanka for the most career victories among American pitchers in Japan.
After retiring, Bacque worked as an industrial arts teacher at a junior high school inScott, Louisiana, and managed his own ranch. He often traveled to Japan to meet with his former teammates. Bacque died following complications fromabdominal aneurysm surgery on September 14, 2019.[2]