Baseball

Rising Sons

The major leagues' ERA leader boards have a bit of a Far East flavor to them, with Hideki Irabu of the Yankees sitting atop the American League with a 1.48 mark through Sunday and Masato Yoshii of the Mets fifth in the National at 2.33. While the two Japanese righthanders are enjoying similar results in the Big Apple this year, the paths they followed to get there were very different. Yoshii's transition has been as smooth as a silk kimono. Irabu's couldn't have been bumpier.

Irabu came to the U.S. last spring overhyped, overweight and with a hefty price tag ($12.8 million for four years), but his performance left teammates, fans and the media wondering how somebody so highly touted could be so lousy. In short, he was 1997's version of Godzilla, replete with the big guy's surly streak. He so offended New Yorkers that fictional Yankees fan Frank Costanza lashed out at the George Steinbrenner character in last month's Seinfeld finale, screaming, "How could you spend $12 million on Hideki Irabu?"

There was irony in singling out Irabu as a target that night, because while millions of Americans were watching the sitcom's swan song, the much-maligned 29-year-old pitcher was holding the Rangers scoreless for seven innings, yielding just three hits.

Irabu's 1998 season has been stellar, but it was his '97 campaign that raised the ire of Yankees fans. During the much publicized negotiations to bring him to New York (Irabu's rights were held by the Padres, for whom he refused to play), the pitcher was constantly referred to as the Nolan Ryan of Japan—despite having only a 59-59 record in nine seasons. In late April '97, San Diego accepted two prospects and $3 million from the Yankees for the rights to Irabu plus three minor leaguers. It took Steinbrenner five weeks to sign him, but once the deal was done Irabu was heralded as the savior of the defending world champs, who had fallen far behind the front-running Orioles. Because he came to the Yankees well into the season, he had no opportunity to ease into the clubhouse routine and struggled to fit in with 24 players he didn't know.

"Last year he felt like an outsider," says outfielder Chad Curtis. "He tried to portray himself as this tough, immovable force." A few bad outings and some untoward behavior on the field—in Milwaukee, for instance, he spit while walking off the field after being yanked from a game, apparently in response to booing by Brewers fans—led to nasty headlines, and he was eventually sent to the bullpen. He finished the year 5-4 with a 7.09 ERA.

This year Irabu has been with the team since spring training, and feels more at home. Most days he and Curtis, who lives in the same New Jersey apartment complex, make the 15-minute drive across the George Washington Bridge to Yankee Stadium, chatting about baseball, road trips and even religion. "When I met my teammates this year, it was a whole different atmosphere," Irabu says through an interpreter. "I was able to get to know them a lot better during the spring. Just being able to go out to dinner with some of my teammates has had a big effect on my pitching."

Yoshii, meanwhile, slipped into New York quietly, with no advance billing and few expectations. It probably helped that the Mets have played second fiddle to the Yankees in recent seasons, but the 33-year-old native of Osaka also did not have the reputation that Irabu had in Japan.

Yoshii turned down a four-year, $8 million offer to stay in Japan, opting to sign with the Mets for $200,000 for this season, because, he says, "No matter how much money you have, you can't pay a major league team to put you on the roster." Yoshii picked New York knowing full well the kind of criticism Irabu suffered, but he was probably more worried about getting mugged than getting skewered in the papers. "Before I came over here, I heard about New York in magazines and news reports," says Yoshii, who also speaks through an interpreter. "New York is portrayed in Japan as dangerous. But it's probably safer than Tokyo."

Yoshii, who was 4-1 at week's end, has avoided the headlines in his first season by being everything Irabu wasn't. Whereas Irabu relies on his fastball and an improving curve, Yoshii depends more on control and finesse. "He's a Chevrolet, and he doesn't pretend to be a Cadillac," says Mets pitching coach Bob Apodaca.