RIP Hideki Irabu

Details are just starting to emerge, but former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead today near his Los Angeles home. Suicide is suspected.

It's a sad ending to a sad story. He'll be famously remembered as the man that George Steinbrenner called a "fat toad." He was not awful for the Yanks, but he was nowhere near the "Japanese Nolan Ryan" comparisons that were bestowed upon him. I saw him pitch several times in person, most notably on Beanie Baby Day in 1999. RIP, Irabu.