In October 18, Hiroki Kuroda of the Hiroshima Carp announced his retirement from professional baseball in 2016 season. In the press conference of retirement, Kuroda told the reason of retirement that the Carp won the championship of the Central League. Because he has a strong sense of responsibility so he would have had a sense of achievement. And he told another reason that he piled up age so could not pitch the whole game. His last pitch is the Japan series from October 22.
Hiroki Kuroda ’s biography is that he’s the age of 41, and he was born at Osaka. Kazuhiro Kuroda of his father was also a proffecional baseball player in Japan. Kuroda was drafted by the Carp in the 2nd round in 1996 draft. He contracted with the Carp and he had been play in the first team at the rookie year. Kuroda was an ace pitcher of the Carp consecutively. In 2005 season, he won 15 and became the pitcher with the most wins. And next year, His stats are 1.85 ERA, he got an ERA leader.
In December 2007, Kuroda transfered to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He signed the contract with the Dodgers of 3 years and 35 million dollars. He became the pitching rotation in the Dodgers until 2011 season and got 41 wins. After that Kuroda transfered to the New York Yankees in January 2012. He signed the contract with the Yankees of 1 year and 15 million dollars. He signed the one-year contract with Yankees every year until 2014 season. He also became the starting rotation in the Yankees and got 38 wins in 3 years. He had no injury so pitched more than 200 innings every year in the Yankees. In the Yankees, He played with Ichiro Suzuki and Masahiro Tanaka.
In December 2014, Kuroda suddenly transfered to the Carp again. He signed the contract with the Carp of 1 year and 400 million yen. He told the reason of the transfer that he has no regrets if retired in the Carp. His stats was 11 wins and 2.55 ERA in 2015 season, but the Carp didn’t win the Championship. So he signed the contract with the Carp of 1 year and 600 million yen in 2016 season. And in this year, he got a combined total of 200th win in his professional career in the Major League Baseball and Japan. Finally he achieved the combined total of 203th win until 2016 season.
There is an episode that Kuroda backed to Japan 2 years ago. At that time, the San Diego Padres offered Kuroda with 1 year contract and 18 million dollars. But he turned it down and contracted with the Carp for the 20 percent salary of the Padres. In Japan, he was told that he was a chivalrous spirit. The chivalrous spirit is ” Otokogi” in Japanese, so this word became a buzzword in Japan.
In other story, Clayton Kershaw learned the method of adjustment from Hiroki Kuroda in the Dodgers. They had age difference of more than 10 but they played catch everyday. They became the best friend, but Kuroda was supposed to be moved from the Dodgers. Kuroda wanted to moving to the team of the American League in order that he do not want to play against Kershaw. Finally, Kuroda transferd to the Yankees. However they pitched in same game only 1 time in July 31 2013. Kuroda pitched 7 innings and gave up no runs, and Kershaw pitched 8 innings and gave up no runs. So they did not become the winning pitcher both. Kershaw threw a lot of innings in the 2016 post season, it may be the influence of Kuroda.
This youtube’s video is the press conference of Kuroda’s retirement. The fans hope that he will pitch in the Japan Series and the Carp will win the Championship of the Japan professional baseball.
