As seen in Japanese on Bunshun Yakyu / 文春野球の日本語版はこちら
Early July 1969. A legendary import pitcher stood on a baseball mound in Osaka, all-but-certain to break a historical NPB record. One more win would give Gene Bacque 101 on his career, which would give him sole possession of a record (100 career NPB wins) shared with his friend and rival, the late Joe Stanka (Nankai Hawks). Discomfort in his back sidelined him too soon that season, and he would never come back to the mound again – at least not as a professional ballplayer. Now, that same man is on a mission to get back to Koshien Stadium to see a new legendary import pitcher, Randy Messenger, break his record.
Two questions remain, though. 1) Will Messenger, who has returned to America for treatment on his shoulder, ever come back to Japan? 2) Can Bacque, whose deteriorating health makes travel difficult, find a way to make it out here?
Fortunately for Bacque, help appears to be on its way to him. Now we just have to hope Messenger can come back in time to pick up two more wins to tie Bacque at 100, and ideally, a third win to make the record his own.
Bacque played for Hanshin back in the 1960s, putting together some excellent seasons during a true Golden Age for the Tigers’ pitching staff. Now widowed and in his 80s, he and a newly-formed organization are hoping to get him back to Koshien Stadium for the first time in over two decades. (His last time in Japan was the year after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.)
I learned about Mr. Bacque almost by chance, but he is one of the reasons that I have gotten as deeply into the Tigers as I am now. You see, when I really started trying to push my blog to the next level, I was hoping to boldly predict that Messenger could win the 2014 Eiji Sawamura Award for outstanding pitching. It struck me that perhaps there were few foreigners, if any at all, who had previously won the hardware. A little research provided me with my answer: only one, Gene Martin Bacque, had won it in 1964 with – you guessed it – the Hanshin Tigers. (Kris Johnson of the Hiroshima Carp won it in 2016 to become part of Mr. Bacque’s prestigious club.)
What I didn’t know then, I know now: Bacque passed a tryout with Hanshin in 1962 that was arranged by a team owner in Hawaii named Angel Maehara, joined the team immediately, and made a bigger impact on the team than any other import pitcher ever before and ever since. He nearly single-handedly carried the team to its miraculous 1964 Central League pennant, threw a no-hitter against arch-nemeses Yomiuri Giants in 1965 (which no Hanshin pitcher has accomplished since), and racked up an impressive 100 career wins in just over 6 seasons with Hanshin.
Anyhow, upon learning of his 1964 Sawamura Award, I had to read more: where is he now? I discovered that he was residing in Lafayette, Louisiana, his hometown, and he was an active Facebook user. I was able to connect with him there, and was thrilled when he even agreed to do an interview with me. Keep in mind that at the time, I was a novice blogger, barely getting 30 hits a day on my Tigers website.
I felt like a new level of a video game had been unlocked to me: you mean I can communicate with ex-Tigers, legends even, just because I blog about the team in English? (It’s true: I have had the pleasure of talking with about a dozen retired players and the number keeps growing.)
It soon became apparent to me, though, that this was not a video game, and I was not the main character. Through my talk with Mr. Bacque, I learned about a man who (let’s face it) is in the twilight years of his life, and absolutely treasures his years with the Tigers and in Japan. He spoke so fondly of his teammates, his coaches, the road trips, life in Japan with his beloved wife, and even the multiple trips he took to Japan after his retirement, to play in old-timers games.
And while his life is far from a tragedy, his story is anything but straight and simple. Like any good baseball showdown, the hitter cannot predict what’s coming, where it’s coming from, and at what speed. In 2011, Mr. Bacque lost the love of his life to kidney complications. When we spoke on FaceTime for the first time back in 2015, he spoke of how much he missed her and loved her. He spoke so reverently about what an amazing partner, mother, and nurse that she was, and how not a day goes by that he doesn’t miss her. As a relative newlywed at that time, my heart was crying with his as I thought about my own relationship with my beloved wife.
On top of that, sickness and health complications have made his own daily life a challenge at times. Bladder surgery set him back for a spell, and double hip replacement also means that balance can be an issue at times as well. He says he definitely feels his age (he will be 82 on August 12).
Still, he remains as chipper as any old man I’ve ever spoken to. He’s still the same affable man who went to public baths (sento) with neighborhood children. He still has his sharp wits about him, like he did back in his playing days when he showed an umpire his displeasure at his call-making by throwing the rosin bag (and not the baseball) whizzing past the ump’s head and saying, “THAT as a ball. My pitches are strikes, though!” (When he saw thick-bearded me on a recent FaceTime call, his instant reaction was “You gotta shave that sh*t off your face!”)
He still has a good memory, and animatedly gives accounts of his favorite moments in Japan in vivid detail. The size of the grapes the team would pick up in Himeji on their way to Hiroshima, the name of the restaurant where he ate the best steak in his life (this coming from a man who became a rancher in his retirement years, no less!), names of friends he made while in Japan, including ex-teammate Mike Solomko (1960-63) who still makes his home in Japan.
Speaking of which, Bacque also still has a strong desire to come back to Japan. Not only does he miss it terribly, but he wants to be able to personally congratulate Randy Messenger when finally his club (and NPB) record for most career wins by a foreign-born pitcher gets broken. The fact is, Mr. Bacque wants Randy to have his record (when he gets number 101 he will take it), and has been in personal contact with our current American hero for much of the past 6 years. Recently, Bacque told me that the record needs to be passed on to someone, and that Randy is the perfect man to take it. Also, he really wants to see the Tigers win a pennant while Messenger is still with the team, and the icing on the cake would be a Sawamura Award for the 10-year veteran.
Ideally, he would like to be on hand when the record gets broken. The problem, of course, is that Mr. Bacque’s health issues make this more complicated than getting him on an airplane and flying him to Osaka. The good news is that he is the honorary chairman of the Japan Retired Foreign Players’ Association (JRFPA), an organization that aims to create a bridge between former foreign ballplayers and their fans here in Japan. They do promotional events, clinics, corporate events and merchandising as well as intellectual property rights management. Founder William Brooks says it is a high priority for JRFPA to get Mr. Bacque out to Japan one more time. The timetable is late September, so Mr. Bacque can do some promotions with his old teammates (who include legends Yoshio Yoshida and Masaaki Koyama). Of course, he also hopes to unite former record holder with new record holder, too.
Every time I talk to Mr. Bacque and feel his passion for Japan, for the Tigers, for Koshien Stadium, I am thankful that I took on this endeavor to cover the Tigers in English.
I have this scenario playing through my mind: Randy Messenger will return as quickly as possible and pick up two quick wins before season’s end. On the final day of the year, with one win to go, he stands on the mound at Koshien facing the Yomiuri Giants. Gene Bacque will be in the crowd cheering him on. And if everything aligns perfectly, I will be there as well, high-fiving one legend and applauding another.
Interested sponsors can reach William Brooks at wbrooks@jrfpa.org.