Time Machine: Remembering Gene Bacque

This story originally ran in the Japanese newspaper Yukan Fuji in 2019.

TOKYO — I read with sadness of the passing of Gene Bacque, a former pitching great for the Hanshin Tigers, who died on Saturday night at the age of 82, after complications from a surgical procedure. He was the first foreign recipient of the Sawamura Award as Japan’s top pitcher.

A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Bacque was one of the greatest foreign pitchers in NPB history, playing for the Tigers from 1962-68 and the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1969.

Bacque compiled a record of 100-80 with a 2.34 ERA in Japan. He’s one of only four foreign hurlers to reach 100 wins in NPB. Bacque and former Nankai Hawks star Joe Stanka, who also finished with 100 wins, share the record for the most career victories by an American pitcher. Stanka passed away last October.