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| Jim Paciorek | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||
| First baseman /Outfielder | |||||||||||||||
| Born: (1960-06-07)June 7, 1960 (age 65) Detroit,Michigan, U.S. | |||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
| Professional debut | |||||||||||||||
| MLB: April 9, 1987, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||||||||||||||
| NPB: April 8, 1988, for the Yokohama Taiyō Whales | |||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | |||||||||||||||
| MLB: September 23, 1987, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |||||||||||||||
| NPB: August 27, 1993, for the Hanshin Tigers | |||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .228 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| NPB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .315 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 86 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 431 | ||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Medals
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James Joseph Paciorek (born June 7, 1960) is an American former professionalbaseball player. He playedfirst base,third base, and theoutfield for theMilwaukee Brewers ofMajor League Baseball (MLB). He also played with theYokohama Taiyo Whales andHanshin Tigers in the JapaneseCentral League.
His two older brothers,John andTom, also played in the major leagues.
After graduating fromOrchard Lake St. Mary's Preparatory, Paciorek played on both the baseball andfootball teams at theUniversity of Michigan. In 1980, he playedcollegiate summer baseball with theFalmouth Commodores of theCape Cod Baseball League.[1] He graduated in 1981 and was drafted in the 14th round by theCleveland Indians, but did not sign with the Indians. He was chosen in the 8th round by theMilwaukee Brewers the following year and signed with the Brewers in 1982. He spent most of his career in the minor leagues but played 48 major league games in 1987.
Paciorek had actually traveled to Japan during his college years to play in the Japanese college baseball league, and he chose to sign with theYokohama Taiyo Whales (currentYokohama DeNA BayStars) in 1988. He ranked second in the league with a .332 average, and won the outfieldBest Nine award that year. He remained one of the league's best hitters,batting fifth behind teammateCarlos Ponce, and won theCentral League batting title in 1990. Paciorek ended the season with a batting average over .300 for the fourth consecutive year in 1991, but was cut from the team for hitting only 11 home runs.
After being cut, Paciorek had his best season in 1992 playing with theHanshin Tigers. Paciorek had joined the Tigers at the suggestion ofTom O'Malley, and he led the league in hits to win a Best Nine award at first base. He also won the Central LeagueGolden Glove Award that year.
Paciorek suffered a hip injury in 1993 and failed reach the .300 mark for the first time in Japan, hitting only 7 home runs with a .243 batting average in 74 games.[2] He was dropped by the Tigers during the off-season. He returned to the United States, and in 1995 was areplacement player in spring training for theSeattle Mariners during theongoing strike.[3] After the strike ended, he did not play in a professional game.[2]
On April 6, 2004, Paciorek traveled to Japan after 11 years to participate in the opening ceremony of a game between theHanshin Tigers andYokohama BayStars atYokohama Stadium. Old-time fans of both teams still remembered Paciorek's contributions to Japanese baseball, and greeted him enthusiastically as he threw the opening pitch.[citation needed]
