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Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki in his pre-swing pose.
Seattle Mariners – No. 51
Center Fielder
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
debut
April 2, 2001, for the Seattle Mariners
Career statistics
(through July 4, 2007)
Avg.333
OBP.380
Hits1477
Runs728
SB258
Teams

Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗, Suzuki Ichirō), often known simply as Ichiro (イチロー, Ichirō), is the center fielder for the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team. He was born October 22, 1973, in Toyoyama, Nishikasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Ichiro moved to the United States in 2001 after playing for nine years for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League. When the Blue Wave posted him after the 2000 season, Ichiro's rights were won by Seattle and he signed a contract with the Mariners. He became the first Japanese-born everyday position player in the Major Leagues. Ichiro did not miss a beat in his transition. He immediately established himself as one of the premier players in the Major Leagues, surpassing his accomplished career in Japan.

2004 was his most impressive offensive season yet, as he set several MLB records, including a new all-time, single-season Major League record with 262 hits. Ichiro, equipped with one of the strongest and most accurate throwing arms in the league, is generally recognized as one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. He has won a Gold Glove award in each of his first six years in the majors, all six as an outfielder.

Suzuki is the first MLB player to join The Golden Players Club.

Early life

At age seven, Ichiro joined his first baseball team and asked his father, Nobuyuki Suzuki (Suzuki Nobuyuki), to teach him to be a better player. The two began a daily routine which included throwing 50 pitches, hitting 200 pitches from Nobuyuki, fielding 50 infield balls and 50 outfield balls, and hitting 250–300 pitches from a machine.

Ichiro Suzuki, all-time single-season hits leader in Major League Baseball.

As a Little Leaguer, Ichiro had the word "concentration" (集中, shūchū) written on his glove. By age 12, he had set professional baseball as his goal and, while he apparently shared his father's vision, he did not enjoy their training sessions. Nobuyuki claimed, "Baseball was fun for both of us," but Ichiro later said, "It might have been fun for him, but for me it was a lot like Star of the Giants," a popular Japanese manga and anime series that told of a young boy's difficult road to success as a professional baseball player, with rigorous training demanded by the father. According to Ichiro, "It bordered on hazing and I suffered a lot."

When Ichiro joined his high school baseball team, his father told the coach, "No matter how good Ichiro is, don't ever praise him. We have to make him spiritually strong." When he was ready to enter high school, Ichiro was selected by a school with a prestigious baseball program, Nagoya's Aikodai Meiden Kōkō, where, unlike as a professional, Ichiro was primarily a pitcher instead of an outfielder, owing to his exceptionally strong arm. While in high school, his cumulative batting average was .505, and his cumulative home run total was 19. Among the strength drills he performed in training there were hurling car tires and hitting wiffleballs with a heavy shovel. These exercises helped develop his wrists and hips, adding power and endurance to his thin frame. Yet, despite the production of outstanding numbers in high school, Ichiro was not drafted until the fourth and final round of the professional draft in November 1991, because many teams were put off by his small size of 5' 9" and 124 pounds. [1]

Career in Japan

Ichiro made his Pacific League debut in 1992 at the age of 18, but he spent most of his first two seasons with a farm team because of his manager's refusal to accept Ichiro's unorthodox swing. The swing, nicknamed 'pendulum' because of the pendulum-like motion of his leg, shifting the weight forward as he swung the bat, was considered to go against conventional baseball wisdom, which insisted that the weight must remain on the rear leg in order to hit the ball effectively. Thus, even though he hit a home run off Hideo Nomo, who later won the rookie of the year in MLB as a Dodger, in the second season, he was sent back to the farm on that very day. In 1994 he benefited from the arrival of a new manager who put him in the second spot of the lineup, which eventually changed to the leadoff spot, for the Blue Wave, and allowed him to hit any way he wanted. He responded by setting a Japanese single-season record with 210 hits in 130 games for a then-Pacific League record .385 batting average and won the first of a record seven consecutive batting titles. He also hit 13 home runs and had 29 stolen bases, helping him to earn his first of three straight Pacific League MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards.

It was during the 1994 season that he began to use "Ichiro" instead of "Suzuki" on his uniform. Suzuki is the second most common surname in Japan, and his manager introduced the idea as a publicity stunt to help create a new image for what had been a relatively weak team, as well as a way to distinguish their rising star. Initially, Ichiro disliked the practice and was embarrassed by it, but "Ichiro" was a household name by the end of the season and he was flooded with endorsement offers.

In 1995 Ichiro led the Blue Wave to their first Pacific League pennant in 12 years. In addition to his second batting title, he led the league with 80 RBI (runs batted in), hit 25 home runs, and stole 49 bases. By this time, the Japanese press had begun calling him the "Human Batting Machine." The following year, with Ichiro winning his third straight MVP award, the team defeated the Central League champion, Yomiuri Giants, in the Japan Series. Following the 1996 season, playing in an exhibition series against a visiting team of Major League All-Stars kindled Ichiro's desire to travel to the United States to play in the Major Leagues.

In 2000, Ichiro was still a year away from being eligible for free agency, but the Blue Wave were no longer among Japan's best teams. They would probably not be able to afford to keep him and would lose him without compensation in another year, and allowed him to negotiate with Major League clubs. Ichiro used the posting system, and the Seattle Mariners won the right to negotiate with him with a bid of around $13 million.[2] Ichiro signed a three-year, $14 million contract with the Mariners and became the first Japanese position player in the Major Leagues.

In his nine seasons in Japan, Ichiro has a .353 career batting average, and in addition to his hitting achievements, won seven Gold Glove Awards.

In January 2006, Ichiro played himself in Furuhata Ninzaburo, a Japanese Columbo-like TV drama that he loves. In the drama, he kills a person and is arrested.

Career in Major League Baseball

On November 9, 2000, Ichiro was acquired by the Seattle Mariners for a contract worth roughly $44 million. Ichiro's move to the United States was viewed with great interest because he was the first Japanese position player to play regularly for a Major League Baseball team. Up to that point, only pitchers from Japan had been playing in the United States and, in the same way that many Japanese teams had considered the 18-year-old Ichiro too small to draft in 1992, many in the US believed he was too frail to succeed against Major League pitching or endure the longer 162-game season. Ichiro made an auspicious debut his first week in the MLB, and revealed his tremendous throwing arm, by gunning down at third base the Oakland Athletics' Terrence Long, who had tried to advance from first to third after a teammate's base hit to right field.

Career Hits
Statistics as of 2006
Season Hits
2001 242
2002 208
2003 212
2004 262*
2005 206
2006 224
Total 1354
*MLB Single-Season Record

Not only did he prove he belonged, Ichiro had a remarkable 2001 season, accumulating 242 hits (the most by any player since 1930 as well as a rookie record) and leading the league with a .350 batting average and 56 stolen bases. By mid-season, he had produced hitting streaks of 15 and 23 games, been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and created a media storm on both sides of the Pacific. 2001 was also an exceptionally successful regular season for the Seattle Mariners as a team, as they matched the 1906 Chicago Cubs' Major League record of 116 wins.[3] In Seattle, ticket sales (and wins) were higher than ever, fans from Japan were taking $2,000 baseball tours to see the games, more than 150 Japanese reporters and photographers were clamoring for access, and "Ichirolls" were being sold at sushi stands in the ballpark. Flight agencies also benefited from Ichiro, as many Ichiro fans were flying in and out of the country just to see him play.[4]

Aided by Major League Baseball's decision to allow All-Star voting in Japan, Ichiro was the first rookie to lead all players in voting for the All-Star Game. At season's end, he won the American League Most Valuable Player and the Rookie of the Year awards, becoming only the second player in MLB history (after Fred Lynn) to receive both honors in the same season.

In addition to being a six-time Gold Glove winner, Ichiro is also a seven-time All-Star selection from 2001 to 2007. His success has opened the door for other Japanese players like Yomiuri Giants slugger Hideki Matsui to enter the Major Leagues.

Ichiro is noted for his work ethic in arriving early for his team's games, and for his calisthenic stretching exercises to stay limber even during the middle of the game. Continuing the custom he began in Japan, he uses his given name on the back of his uniform instead of his surname, becoming the first player in Major League Baseball to do so since Vida Blue.

Ichiro's career is followed closely in Japan, with national television news programs covering each of his at bats, and with special tour packages arranged for Japanese fans to visit the United States to view his games.

Ichiro resides in nearby Medina, an affluent suburb across Lake Washington from Seattle (same neighborhood as Bill Gates). He is in the process of building a new home there.

Record-setting 2004 season

Ichiro set a number of Major League records during the 2004 season:

  • August 26: With a double off Kansas City Royals reliever Jeremy Affeldt, Ichiro became the first player in Major League history to reach 200 hits in each of his first four seasons.
  • August 28: He became the first player in MLB history to have three 50-hit months in a single season.
  • August 31: Ichiro finished August with 56 hits, the most since Jeff Heath's 58 in August 1938. [5] He also batted .463 and was named American League Player of the Month for the first time in his career.
  • September 17: He broke the modern major-league record with his 199th single of the season in the seventh. Ichiro bettered the modern (post-1900) record of 198 set by Lloyd Waner of Pittsburgh in 1927.
  • September 21: He broke the all-time major league record with his 207th single of the season. The record-breaking single came in the eighth inning and was Ichiro's fifth of the day. The record of 206 had been held by Wee Willie Keeler of the 1898 Baltimore Orioles.
  • September 22: He broke Harry Heilmann's 1925 record with his 135th hit on the road. It was also arguably Ichiro's hottest streak of the season, as he collected nine hits over two games, 11 hits over three games (both personal season highs), and 13 hits over a four-game span (tying his personal season high).
  • October 1: Ichiro collected his 258th and 259th hits, breaking the record set by George Sisler with the St. Louis Browns in 1920. His 257th hit also set the Major League record for most hits over any four-year span, with 919.
  • October 3: Ichiro completed the 2004 season with 262 hits, 225 singles, and an MLB-leading .372 batting average. He also finished with 145 hits on the road to break Heilmann's 79-year-old record of 134. He led the majors with 57 infield hits.[6] Ichiro's 704 at bats fell two short of Willie Wilson's record of 706.

2005 Season

His 5th home run of the year 2005
  • September 30: In 2005, Ichiro collected over 200 hits for the 5th straight season after going 4 for 5 against the Oakland A's. He became the first player ever to collect 200 hits per season over his first five years in the Major League and just the sixth to do so five consecutive times at any point in his career joining Willie Keeler, Wade Boggs, Chuck Klein, Al Simmons, and Charlie Gehringer. He also hit an MLB career-high 15 home runs.

Inaugural World Baseball Classic

Ichiro played for the Japan national baseball team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March of 2006. During the March 15 Japan-Korea game Ichiro was booed by a few spectators during every at-bat, reportedly in response to a previous statement that he wanted "to beat South Korea so badly, that the South Koreans won't want to play Japan for another 30 years."[7] That, however, was an incorrect translation mostly spread to the public through ESPN. Ichiro was variously quoted as saying 「戦った相手が『向こう30年は日本に手は出せないな』という感じで勝ちたいと思う」 which roughly translates to "I would like to win in a way for the opponent to think that 'we cannot catch up with Japan for 30 years in the future.'" as well as 「アジアラウンド（1次リーグ）では向こう30年、日本に勝てないと思わせるぐらいやっつけたい。ファンのみなさんは、いくらでも期待してください」 which roughly translates to "I want to beat the teams in the Asia Round so they think they can't win against Japan for another 30 years. Fans, you will see the best team in Asia." He apparently intended for these comments to be taken as "tongue in cheek," since he is seen laughing and smiling in the video while making the comment. Japan won the tournament, defeating Cuba in the finals, 10-6.[8] Ichiro was one of only two Major League Baseball players on Team Japan, the other being reliever Akinori Otsuka. Throughout the course of the tournament, Ichiro provided twelve hits, seven runs, four stolen bases, and one home run.

2006 Season

In 2006 Ichiro continued his all-star play. After a slow start, which included hitting near the Mendoza Line (a .200 batting average) during the month of April, he rebounded and finished the season hitting .322 (6th in the AL and 11th in the Majors), accumulating 224 hits (leading the Majors), 41 infield hits (leading the majors), 110 runs, and 45 stolen bases (3rd in the AL and 7th in the Majors). Ichiro stole the second most bases of his career (56 in 2001). Ichiro was voted onto the 2006 American League All-Star team by the fans. He started in the outfield for the AL in Pittsburgh, but went 0-3. It was Ichiro's sixth All-Star selection in his six years in the major leagues, and his fifth start (only in 2005 did he not start). On September 16, Ichiro set records in the MLB for hits and stolen bases in a 7-4 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Ichiro stole his AL-Single-Season record 33rd consecutive base. He also had two singles in the game in his first two at bats against Mark Redman. These singles helped him extend his own record of most consecutive 200-hit seasons to begin a career to six. He broke Wade Boggs' record of most hits in a six-year period in MLB.[9] Ichiro also won his sixth straight American League Gold Glove Award since he entered MLB.

2007 Season

On June 1, 2007, Ichiro hit in his 25th consecutive game, breaking the previous team record set by Joey Cora in 1997. Breaking Tim Raines' 1995 record of 40 consecutive steals, Ichiro's 41st consecutive successful stolen base occurred on May 3, he went on to set a new American League record of 45 consecutive stolen bases without being caught stealing.

Awards in Japan

1994 MVP, MSP, Best Nine, Gold Glove
1995 MVP, MSP, Best Nine, Gold Glove
1996 MVP, Best Nine, Gold Glove
1997 Best Nine, Gold Glove
1998 Best Nine, Gold Glove
1999 Best Nine, Gold Glove
2000 Best Nine, Gold Glove

Personal life

Ichiro has an elder brother, Kazuyasu Suzuki, who is a fashion designer.

Ichiro married Yumiko Fukushima, a former TV announcer, on December 3, 1999 at a small church in Santa Monica, California. The couple has no children. They have a pet dog (Shiba Inu) named "Ikkyu".

References

  1. ^ (Whiting, 2004, pp. 2–12.)
  2. ^ Isidore, Chris (2002-01-22). "The latest Japanese import". CNN. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Games Won by Teams records at Baseball Almanac
  4. ^ (Whiting, 2004, pp. 25-31)
  5. ^ "Ichiro earns American League Player of the Month; Santana repeats as top hurler". MLB.com. 2004-09-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ FanGraphs
  7. ^ D'Hippolito, Joseph (2006-03-16). "Ichiro forced to eat words". CNN. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Street, Jim (2006-03-05). "Korea upsets Japan in showdown". MLB.com. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Hickey, John (2006-07-26). "Tough night at the yard". Seattle PI. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Further reading

  • Christopher, Matt, and Glenn Stout. At the Plate With... Ichiro. New York: Little, Brown, 2003. ISBN 0316136794.
  • Dougherty, Terri. Ichiro Suzuki. ?: Checkerboard Books, 2003. ISBN 1591974836.
  • Komatsu, Narumi, and Philip Gabriel. Ichiro on Ichiro: Conversations with Narumi Komatsu. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2004. ISBN 1570614318.
  • Leigh, David S. Ichiro Suzuki. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2004. ISBN 0822517922.
  • Levin, Judith. Ichiro Suzuki. New York: Chelsea House Publications, 2007. ISBN 0791094405.
  • Rappoport, Ken. Super Sports Star Ichiro Suzuki. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Elementary, 2004. ISBN 0766021378.
  • Rosenthal, Jim. Ichiro's Art of Playing Baseball: Learn How to Hit, Steal, and Field Like an All-Star. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006. ISBN 0312358318.
  • Savage, Jeff. Ichiro Suzuki. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2003. ISBN 0822513447.
  • Savage, Jeff. Ichiro Suzuki, revised ed. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2007. ISBN 0822572664.
  • Shields, David. "Baseball Is Just Baseball": The Understated Ichiro: An Unauthorized Collection Compiled by David Shields. Seattle: TNI Books, 2001. ISBN 0967870313.
  • Stewart, Mark. Ichiro Suzuki: Best in the West. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2002. ISBN 0761326162.
  • Whiting, Robert. The Meaning of Ichiro: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime. Warner Books, 2004; retitled for the 2005 paperback to The Samurai Way of Baseball: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime. ISBN 0446531928, ISBN 0446694037.
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