Gene Bacque (2013) - Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame

Gene Bacque

Induction:
2013
Class:
1962

Gene Bacque pitched for two years on the then-USL baseball squad in 1956-57, earning first-team All-Gulf States Conference honors in his sophomore year in 1957 as a pitcher. Following that year, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and spent four seasons in the minor leagues before taking his talents to an international stage in the Nippon Pro Baseball league in Japan in 1962.

Bacque pitched in Japan for seven years, and at that time was the best-known American player in the Nippon League for most of that stretch as a member of the Harshin Tigers. He won over 100 games in those seven years, including a standout season in 1964 when he finished with a 29-9 record and a 1.88 earned run average in 353 1/3 innings of work. He had 24 complete games and over 200 strikeouts that season and was named winner of the prestigious Sawamura Award – the equivalent of major league baseball's Cy Young Award.

Bacque, who earned his bachelor's degree in 1962 before heading to Japan, followed his retirement from playing by joining the USL staff and serving as a Cajun assistant and pitching coach under both Bob Banna and Don Lockwood from 1971-78.