In 1999, Steinbrenner erupted after Irabu failed to cover first base during an exhibition game, calling him a fat toad.

"That's not a Yankee," the disgusted owner said of the beleaguered pitcher after a missed play during one spring-training game in April 1999.

"Irabu looks like a fat, pussy toad out there."

Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu, whom George Steinbrenner infamously labeled "a fat pus-sy toad," was found dead in his Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. home Thursday.

Rather, he always wore the label that late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner stuck on him after Irabu failed to cover first base during an exhibition game: "Fat ... toad."

After an impressive debut with the Yankees that summer, he was a disappointment to the Yankees and himself during three seasons in the Bronx. Instead, he was forever tagged with a label from late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who called him a “fat ... toad” after Irabu failed to cover first base during an exhibition game.

The volatile Yankees owner, who had criticized the beefy Irabu for being overweight, became enraged after the pitcher failed to cover first base on a ground ball during the exhibition game and called him a "fat ... toad."