Brian Wolfe, a former Toronto Blue Jays reliever, has died at 45. His wife, Rachell, announced the news on Wednesday and said he had endured a “really, really difficult and torturous battle.”
Wolfe’s death closes the life story of a pitcher whose path ran from Fullerton, CA, to Toronto and then on to Japan. He appeared in 72 games for the Blue Jays across three seasons from 2007 to 2009, a span that began when the club acquired him from the Milwaukee Brewers in January of 2006 in exchange for Canadian infielder Corey Koskie.
He had been selected by the Minnesota Twins in the sixth round in 1999 and made his big league debut with Toronto on May 30, 2007, against the New York Yankees. Wolfe’s busiest season came that year, when he made a career-high 38 appearances, and his last major league outing came on Oct. 2, 2009, against the Baltimore Orioles.
Over his major league career, Wolfe finished 5-5 with a 3.81 earned run average, a 1.222 WHIP over 82.2 innings pitched, 47 strikeouts and 22 walks. After leaving the majors, he spent nine seasons in Japan with Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Saitama Seibu Lions, making 167 appearances, going 56-40 and posting a 3.83 ERA and a 1.339 WHIP.
He also won the Japan Series in 2014 and 2015 with the Hawks, a reminder that his career did not end with Toronto. The circumstances of his death were not disclosed, leaving Rachell’s account of that long and difficult battle as the only public window into what he faced.
