Hall of Fame always held deeper meaning for Ichiro

Japan Times

5 days ago

One of the things Ichiro Suzuki has noted about the National Baseball Hall of Fame is how hard it is to get there.
The Hall is located in Cooperstown, New York, over a three-hour drive from Manhattan and more than an hour's drive from the nearest airport and train station. It is, to say the least, off the beaten path. Few active players ever visit, and many Hall of Famers made their first trip only after being elected.
Ichiro, as he is in many ways, is the outlier, having visited so often that he could probably lead the tour that new inductees receive.
'I don't think before I came here I realized how rare that is,' Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch said. 'I guess I figured a good amount of guys in the offseason, if they happen to live in the northeast or if they are visiting family during the offseason, that they would make a stop by here.
'But one of the things that Ichiro said many years ago, that I think he's said better than most people, is that part of what makes Cooperstown special is that it's not easy to get to. That you have to actually put an effort into going there, and that it would be different if it was, say, in New York City, where anybody from around the world visits and could go there. This requires wanting to go to Cooperstown. It's not on the way to anything. It's not the sort of place that you accidentally come across. I think once I knew that was the way he looked at it, it made it even more special.'
Ichiro will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame on Sunday after being elected in his first year on the ballot — he garnered 99.7% of the vote, coming a single vote away from being a unanimous selection. He is the first Japanese player elected.
His induction comes as no surprise. Ichiro hit .311 over 19 MLB seasons and finished with 3,089 hits. The 2001 American League MVP broke the single-season hits record in 2004 and compiled 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons from 2001 to 2010, an MLB record.
There is no greater honor in baseball than being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Only 351 people have been elected — 278 former players, 40 executives and pioneers, 23 managers and 10 umpires. The annual induction ceremony is usually filled with emotion as the inductees, often tearfully, reflect on their journeys and take their place in baseball history.
For Ichiro, who will be inducted alongside CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, the Hall seems to hold an even deeper meaning. While players visiting Cooperstown is rare, Ichiro made seven trips during his career.
'I think for Ichiro, it was about understanding everything about his craft, and people who are successful in their craft, no matter what that craft is, the ones who are the most successful know the most about it,' said Jeff Idelson, who served as president of the Hall from 2008 to 2019. Idelson, who later co-founded Grassroots Baseball, a nonprofit organization that released a documentary on women's baseball titled "See Her Be Her" that Ichiro was also featured in, returned on an interim basis in 2021 and was succeeded by Rawitch.
"They know it inside and out. And he's someone who's always appreciated baseball history. He knew Japanese baseball history, and once he came to the States, he made it his mission to understand American baseball history and world baseball history. So the seven times he visited while I was there, every time he came, he was interested in something different with the museum.'
Ichiro Suzuki speaks during a news conference at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on Jan. 23. Ichiro was elected to the Hall in his first year on the ballot. |
JIJI
Ichiro soaked up the history around him during each visit. On one tour, he took a particular interest in the connection between baseball and art. On another trip, his interest was piqued by equipment.
'He is really able to identify with the players from history,' Idelson said. 'Not only by holding the bats, but he can tell what the grains are like within the bat. So he can hold the bat up next to his ear and tap the bat to understand the density of the wood and the grains, and it helped him understand those players even more deeply.'
The Hall was always given advance notice when Ichiro visited, and a curator accompanied him on his tours. He was given access to the back catalog, which is not available to the public, where he saw some of the rarest artifacts in baseball history. He always asked lots of questions, Idelson said.
'I really believe that his visits to Cooperstown helped him at some level, on the mental side of the game, to have a full understanding of baseball history,' Idelson said. 'Touring with him always involved a lot of depth. There was nothing superficial about his visits.'
Ichiro also took an interest in artifacts from players whose records he had broken, such as George Sisler, whose 257 hits in 1920 stood as the single-season mark until Ichiro finished with 262 in 2004. Ichiro also visited Sisler's grave in St. Louis to pay his respects.
'The first time I really met him was a few years ago when he got inducted into the (Seattle) Mariners Hall of Fame,' Rawitch said. 'I went out there, and Jeff Idelson, my predecessor, and I went to dinner with him because Jeff was going to introduce us and let us spend some time together.
'That was one of the first things I wanted to know, why are you like this with the Hall of Fame?
"What he talked about was just being able to feel the history. That when he would be chasing the record of someone like George Sisler, he could go, and when he touched his bat or touched his glove, he could actually feel the presence of the history that came before him.'
Ichiro also holds a special place in baseball history as the first Japanese position player to play in an MLB game, and the Hall of Fame is expecting to welcome an influx of fans from Japan to watch his induction. The timing of Ichiro's induction also coincides with a new exhibition called 'Yakyu Baseball / The Transpacific Exchange of the Game' that will explore the connection between Japan and the U.S. Ichiro also donated some of his memorabilia to the exhibit.
'I think one of the things that's become very clear is just how global the game is, and what a huge part of Major League Baseball that Japan is,' Rawitch said. 'Obviously, our exhibit, Yakyu / Baseball, is gonna be a huge part of that.
'But I think when we look out at the crowd and we see international faces and Japanese flags, in a way it will be as unique as anything we've ever had.'
Ichiro stands with former Mariners Edgar Martinez (middle) and Ken Griffey Jr. during a ceremony in his honor in Seattle in September 2019. |
USA TODAY / VIA REUTERS
Ichiro's professional journey to Cooperstown took him from the Orix BlueWave in Kobe to the Mariners, the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins before he returned to Seattle for a final curtain call. It was a long road, just like the actual trek to the Hall of Fame.
When he is inducted into the Hall, Ichiro will be immortalized as a part of the history that he held in such reverence.
'I just think the game means as much to him as anything in life,' Idelson said. 'It's an important part of his DNA. There's so much baseball history that's taken place over the last 2½ centuries, it's not easy to do in one visit.
'Cooperstown also has a way of reinvigorating the spirit, or giving you a new sense of appreciation for the game. Though he never said those things, I have to think at some level, coming to the Hall of Fame really was something that had deep meaning to him. I mean, he was quoted as saying it's just like an at home feeling going to Cooperstown.
"So he felt very much at home coming to Cooperstown and coming to the Hall of Fame. His induction now is truly the capstone to an incredible career.'