- Julio Zuleta
Julio Zuleta Tapia (born
March 28 ,1975 inPanama City, Panama ) is a professional baseball player for theChiba Lotte Marines in Japan'sPacific League . He studied in "Colegio Javier" in Panama, graduating in the eleventh grade. Julio speaks five languages, including: Spanish, Portugese, French, English and Japanese. He is 197cm tall and weighs 113kg.He was signed as a free agent by the
Chicago Cubs onSeptember 15 ,1992 and spent a year with theGCL Cubs in 1993. He began 1994 inHuntington before going back down to play with the GCL Cubs. Zuleta made his Major League debut with the Cubs in 2000. Zuleta played in 30 games hitting .294 with 3 home runs with 20 hits.Zuleta has been playing professional baseball in Japan since 2003. He played with the
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks from2003 to2006 . His peak with the Hawks in2005 included hitting 43 home runs with a .319 batting average. He has the most home runs for a foreigner with the SoftBank Hawks.After the
2006 season, Zuleta was released by the Hawks and signed with theChiba Lotte Marines as a free agent. He signed a two year contract with the Marines, which is now up after the completion of the 2008 season.The Japanese fans gave Zuleta the name "Samurai" because of his perseverance. He has hit the most home runs in the league over the last three seasons (109). He is one of only three players in Japanese baseball to hit three home runs in one game. He achieved this twice: once against the Orix BlueWave (2003) and another time against the Seibu Lions (2006).
Zuleta is a three-time All Star. On
September 22 ,2007 , in a game against theRakuten Golden Eagles , he became the 61st player in Japanese professional baseball history to hit for the cycle. OnJune 7, 2008 , he blasted a hit on the roof light in Tokyo Dome and was grounded home run, becoming the second player to ground a home rune in the dome afterRalph Bryant . He currently wears the number 42.ources
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* Bobby Valentine, Japan's Baseball Sweetheart, Japan's Quality English Magazine Weekender March 16 - March 29, 2007
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