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Suzuki Ichiro (Aichi Prefecture, 1972- )
In 1997, when Ogi Akira, new manager of the Kobe-based Orix Blue Wave
Pacific League team, changed the name on the No. 51 shirt from
Suzuki to the player's first name Ichiro, the modest
outfielder was somewhat embarassed. But it was a
fitting tribute to a player who many regard as the best Japanese
baseball has ever seen.
Ichiro holds 9 Japanese baseball records including:
Seven-time PL batting champ (1994-2000),
210 hits in a season (1994)
Got on base in a record 69 consecutive games (1994)
216 consecutive at-bats without a strikeout (1997)
He also shares several records, including that of being Pacific
League MVP three years running (1994-96). In his nine seasons
in Japan, he was a career .353 batter and his best season was
his last - in 2000 he batted .387 (just short of the Japanese
record of .389 held by Randy Bass since 1985).
Born on Dec 24 1972 (the day after my wife!),
Suzuki Ichiro first picked up a baseball bat when he was 3 years
old and developed a real interest in the game when he was 8. He
took part twice in the National High School Baseball Tournament
at Koshien Stadium. After graduation, he was drafted by the Blue Wave but spent
the first two seasons in and out of the first team under manager
Doi Shozo. Doi didn't like Suzuki's independent spirit and 'pendulum' style
of batting but his true talent was recognized by Ogi. And how
that talent blossomed! The 1994 season was a spectacular one for
Suzuki. He became the first Japanese player to get 200 hits in
a season and with several other records broken his first MVP award
was a given the end of the year. From that season on, he became
one of the most popular and respected players in Japan. But unlike
some players who have failed to live up to their hype, he was
amazingly consistent - after 1994, he never relinquished his PL
batting crown, had less than 200 hits or batted below .340 for a season. His 1997 streak
of 216 at-bats without being struck out showed just how hard it
is to get the guy out.
For a player with the highest salary in the game (530 million
yen in 2000) and nothing more to prove, the only way up in Japan
was to move to the more high-profile Central League or become
the first Japanese batter to break .400. Instead, he was widely
expected to make use of his free-agent status after the 2001 season
and make the jump to the Major Leagues. Having had a taste of
the Seattle Mariners' spring training camp in 1999, it seemed he had his sights set
on the Pacific Northwest. But knowing they were going to lose
him the next season anyway, Orix 'posted' Ichiro, making him available
to all 30 ML teams under a sealed bid system. Seattle paid more
than $13 million to negotiate with the player, who signed a 3-year
contract for an undisclosed sum.
"It has been my dream to play in the major leagues," Ichiro said.
"When I took part in the Mariners camp in 1999, I felt like a
rookie, almost like a little kid. I knew then I wanted to play
in the majors and experience the challenge of competing against
the best players in the world as soon as I possibly could."
He made an impressive start to his ML career - both at the plate
and in right field. He recorded two hits in his first game and
with fellow countryman Sasaki
Kazuhiro as impressive a closer as he was in his 'rookie' season, this
pair of 'samurai' Mariners made a dream start. Ichiro has also
shown why he was even given a brief stint as a pitcher in Japan,
with his lightning-fast and deadly-accurate throws from right
field. In the 2004 season, he won over new legions of fans with
the grace and poise with which he broke George Sisler's 84-year
old record for single-season hits. He ended up with 262 hits for
the season and no one else looks close to matching that for a
while - except Ichiro himself. Meanwhile, expectations of the first .400
season for generations rest squarely on his small shoulders.
Small as Ichiro is (178cms, 80kg), he looks set to continue playing
a big part in the Big Leagues (read an interesting Japan Times
article about 'The Throw'
that had the MLB buzzing in 2001). Ichiro also faced the fearsome Randy
Johnson as the first AL batter in the 2001 All Star game and managed
to get a hit.
His biggest frustration must being on a team that, despite having such a
fearsome leadoff man, has underperformed for several seasons. The arrival in
Seattle of fellow countryman and star catcher Jojima Kenji in 2006 was no
doubt a bonus but the team has yet to become a contender. That frustration
was surely relieved somewhat by his performance at the inaugural
World Baseball Classic in the spring of 2006. Beaten twice in earlier games by the team from
South Korea, Japan faced their Asian rivals again in the final. Ichiro's inspired
hitting and leadership led his team to a victory that had the whole country buzzing.
Baseball fans saw, perhaps for the first time, an Ichiro almost overcome with
excitement and emotion. The Japan team managed to even defend the title in 2009, and
it came as little surprise that it was once again Ichiro who came through with the
clutch hit in the final.
No doubt the stress of that WBC win was a major cause of the bleeding ulcer that
kept Ichiro out of the Seattle lineup for several games at the start of the 2009
season. But even an injury later in the season couldn't stop him from breaking one
of the oldest records in baseball. On September 14, he got his 200th hit of the
season, managing the feat for a record 9th consecutive year and breaking the record
held by Wee Willie Keeler since 1908.
One of the few questions remaining about Ichiro is whether he will be inducted
into the Japanese or the US Hall of Fame, or both. |
