# More Baseball Questions

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-baseball-questions/720301>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [May 18, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-baseball-questions/720301 "2015-05-18T12:46:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-baseball-questions/720301/21 "2015-05-19T12:41:16Z")

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> [@Superdude](#):
>
> I want to say that Hideki Irabu (I may be wrong on the player, but he’s jumping out at me for some reason), when he first started in MLB, spoke no English. When the catcher/pitching coach/manager would make a visit to the mound, a translator would accompany them so that everyone could follow the conversation.

[A hometown article goes into depth on that.](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB907107005127123500)

> [@](#):
>
> That doesn’t happen as much anymore, but if you have, say, a pitcher from the Dominican Republic, and a catcher who doesn’t speak Spanish, an infielder may come to the mound to act as the go-between.

I’m drawing a blank on the guy’s name, but the Yankees once had a Dominican infielder who had played in Japan for a few years and picked up the language there. When visiting Irabu (?) on the mound, he’d translate for the others from Japanese into English via Spanish.

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