Oct 9

George Rose with Hideki Irabu

JET alum George Rose (Fukushima-ken, 1989-91), former interpreter for Hideki Irabu as well as former JETAA NY President, is quoted in a Sunday, October 9 feature article Irabu Got Lost on the Way Back) in the New York Times about Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu who recently committed suicide.  The article gives the impression that George was one of the few U.S. baseball colleagues who actually got to know Irabu personally.

Below is a link to the full article along with the quotes by George:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/sports/baseball/hideki-irabu-got-lost-on-the-road-back.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=hideki%20irabu&st=cse

“When I saw him last summer, he told me he was having a midlife crisis,” said George Rose, who befriended Irabu when he worked for two years as his interpreter on the Yankees. Rose then repeated what had been a kind of conventional wisdom about the Irabu: he had a big heart, but could be his own worst enemy.

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JET alum George Rose with Derek Jeter at the 1998 World Series.

“He was kind of searching for what to do next,” said George Rose, his old interpreter, “and he never did.”

For additional background on George, here’s a link to a 2008 JETAANY Newsletter interview with George Rose (“Pride of the Yankees:  Far East Edition“) by Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2002-03).

 

 


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