Latest news with #Ichiro
The Mainichi
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Baseball: Ichiro expects to get nervous in Hall of Fame speech
SEATTLE (Kyodo) -- Baseball Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki said Friday he expects to get nervous when he makes a speech in English during the July 27 induction ceremony at Cooperstown, New York. "I'm the type of person who gets really nervous when speaking in front of people, so I'll definitely get nervous," the former Seattle Mariners icon revealed in an online press conference. Ichiro, who is widely known by just his first name, has visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum many times since his playing days and has a deep respect for baseball history. "We can play baseball happily now thanks to the achievements of our predecessors," he said. "We have to know that we're here because of their history. I'd like to convey my gratitude to them, as a baseball player." The first Asian elected to the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame plans to skip a golf event for Hall of Famers and continue his daily training, even when he is at Cooperstown later this month. In late August, Ichiro will play in an exhibition game against a women's select squad of high school players as part of his program to develop women's baseball in Japan. As for the future of baseball, Ichiro said, "It's a sport in which humans compete against each other. I'd like to cherish human nature, passion and feelings without making it too impersonal."
Kyodo News
3 days ago
- Sport
- Kyodo News
Baseball: Ichiro expects to get nervous in Hall of Fame speech
SEATTLE - Baseball Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki said Friday he expects to get nervous when he makes a speech in English during the July 27 induction ceremony at Cooperstown, New York. "I'm the type of person who gets really nervous when speaking in front of people, so I'll definitely get nervous," the former Seattle Mariners icon revealed in an online press conference. Ichiro, who is widely known by just his first name, has visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum many times since his playing days and has a deep respect for baseball history. "We can play baseball happily now thanks to the achievements of our predecessors," he said. "We have to know that we're here because of their history. I'd like to convey my gratitude to them, as a baseball player." The first Asian elected to the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame plans to skip a golf event for Hall of Famers and continue his daily training, even when he is at Cooperstown later this month. In late August, Ichiro will play in an exhibition game against a women's select squad of high school players as part of his program to develop women's baseball in Japan. As for the future of baseball, Ichiro said, "It's a sport in which humans compete against each other. I'd like to cherish human nature, passion and feelings without making it too impersonal."
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Your Favorite Sport's All-Star Game Sucks
Hello and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Maybe it's time to think about a career change? I just got back from vacation, so this week's newsletter is shorter than usual. We'll be back next week with your regularly scheduled programming. Advertisement Locker Room Links All the Stars, None of the Stakes Your favorite sport's All-Star Game sucks—because they all suck. But because the MLB All-Star Game is Tuesday night, we'll start there. Perhaps I'm falling victim to nostalgia here (as baseball fans often do!) but the MLB All-Star Game used to mean something, because the distinction between National League and American League used to mean something. The two leagues had slightly different rules, with one having a designated hitter and one not, which affected the game in more strategic ways than one spot in the lineup. Interleague play was rare, but the rarity also made it a treat. Because the leagues felt so different, the All-Star Game felt like a clash of civilizations—fans could watch with fervor because the American League way of life was better than the National League way of life and dang it, the boys needed to prove that on the field once a year. That clash is why Ichiro's legendary expletive-laden locker room rants against the National League could make a difference. Advertisement But no more. The two leagues play under the same rules. They play against each other throughout the season, and so often that interleague play is hardly of note anymore. Baseball is homogeneous. There are some advantages to these changes, to be fair. Under the new scheduling system, every team in baseball is guaranteed to host a giant ticket-seller from the other league, like the Yankees or the Dodgers, every other year. (I'm certainly glad my Tigers now come to Washington, D.C., for a series every other season instead of the seven-year gap I got from 2016 to 2023.) But the MLB All-Star Game, the best all-star game in all of sports, has been a victim of the league's shift toward uniformity between the American League and National League. Do you really care that much about your favorite league beating the other one, or do you just want to see your favorite team's players do well? Advertisement In the good old days, whenever someone would start up the designated hitter debate, I'd say I preferred having it but that I also liked baseball's weird way of having it in one league and not the other. I also didn't mind when the All-Star Game raised the stakes and set home-field advantage for the World Series. But now I mainly watch just to see how the Tigers represent the team on the national stage, and the final result doesn't feel like it matters much. Maybe one day the MLB All-Star Game will feel like a clash of civilizations again. The other major all-star games hardly feel worth mentioning. The NFL Pro Bowl isn't even playing real football anymore. The NHL wisely replaced its boring All-Star Game with an international competition that was a massive success, inspiring the NBA to change its All-Star Game to a U.S. versus the world format. All in all, the old conference versus conference format isn't working, and the only thing keeping it in MLB is the history of pitting the National League against the American League. That counts for something, to be sure, but the appeal of that won't last forever. Got thoughts or ideas for new all-star formats in any of the sports? Let's chat about them. Send them my way at freeagent@ Bogey I really wish I could recommend the Apple TV+ show Stick. It's got Owen Wilson, Marc Maron, and cameos from some pretty famous pro golfers! Plus, the show started to come out amid my rising interest in playing and watching golf. Advertisement But for all the comedic acting heft, the show's just not very good. The writing is pretty bland, and I've rarely laughed out loud at the jokes (mainly intergenerational) or felt a lot of suspense waiting for the next episode. The plot is nice and compelling enough to keep me watching—but I'm a sucker for finishing a story that I've started, even when it's not quite up to par. Replay of the Week Need Churchill Downs to add this to Kentucky Derby weekend. That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real event of the week, fishing's Oak Bluffs Bluewater Classic. The post Your Favorite Sport's All-Star Game Sucks appeared first on
New York Times
15-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ken Griffey Jr. recounts Ichiro's ASG inside-the-park homer: ‘It ain't my fault, coach'
Ken Griffey Jr. didn't want to talk about the only inside-the-park home run in All-Star history. 'It ain't my fault, coach,' Griffey said recently by phone before chuckling. 'Go back and watch it,' he demanded. Gladly. The highlight of the 2007 All-Star Game in San Francisco is infinitely rewatchable, a confluence of unique talent, fateful coincidence and blind luck. At the plate was Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most electric and beloved players in baseball history. He hit the ball into right field, where Griffey — Ichiro's longtime friend, eventual teammate, and fellow Seattle Mariners icon — happened to be playing in his last Midsummer Classic. The ball ricocheted at an unexpected angle, got away from Griffey, and left Ichiro free to run. Advertisement Inside-the-park home runs are almost always quirky. The first and only in All-Star history could have been hit by Vince Coleman or Brett Butler or Scott Podsednik or any other speedster who made an All-Star Game or two before descending into relative obscurity. But no, it was Ichiro, who might have hit his historic fly ball toward Shawn Green or Preston Wilson or Jason Bay or any other National League right fielder of the era with whom he would have shared little connection or history. Instead, it was Griffey who was left scrambling after the ball took an unusual carom off a bit of one-night-only signage at then-AT&T Park. 'There were signs there!' Griffey said. 'There are no signs there normally.' Major League Baseball is about to play its 95th All-Star Game, and if we're lucky, it will have one of those moments. The ones we talk about with friends and rewatch on YouTube. Cal Ripken moving to shortstop and then going deep. Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds, then getting hauled off like a sack of potatoes. Pedro Martinez mowing through Hall of Famers like they were Little Leaguers. And, of course, Ichiro lifting a fly ball to right center field, then circling the bases as Griffey — then in his 13th and final All-Star appearance — chased it hopelessly into the outfield grass. 'I played in that stadium since the year it opened,' Griffey said. 'The first thing you do as a new guy coming into a stadium is check the wall. Especially if it has something funky in it. Your outfield coach would hit balls up against that wall and just see, because you can't really just throw a ball. And 98 percent, 99 percent of the balls hit there either die or go towards center.' Of course, Ichiro had a tendency to do the impossible. By 2007, he was already an All-Star regular, having been invited to the Midsummer Classic in each of his first seven major-league seasons. (He went on to become an All-Star in the next three seasons as well.) He'd never been particularly great in the All-Star Game to that point, and he'd never hit an inside-the-park home run in the majors, but all of that changed on July 10, 2007. Advertisement Facing Padres starter Chris Young — pitching in his only All-Star Game — Ichiro came to the plate in the fifth inning with one out, Brian Roberts on first base and Derek Jeter on deck. The first pitch of the at-bat was lifted to the angled wall in right-center — a wall that seemed sure to send the ball ricocheting into center field. That's the way Griffey played it, but the ball hit off the signage and rebounded into right, meaning Griffey had to retreat. All the while, Ichiro was sprinting. 'Coming around third, I was getting the wave,' Roberts said on a call Monday. 'And I think that's when I finally took a peek and saw the ball was not where I thought it would be. And at that point, you're just hoping Ichi doesn't catch you coming home. That was probably the first thought I had: Don't get passed!' Roberts was not the only one surprised by the outcome of that at-bat. 'So, a screwy carom, and Junior is caught off guard,' Tim McCarver said on the broadcast. 'And that allowed Ichiro to round the bases. A rare, rare inside-the-park home run in an All-Star Game.' 'We're checking how rare that is,' Joe Buck added. It was indeed the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history. 'I thought it was going over the fence,' Ichiro said postgame. 'When it didn't, I was bummed out.' Finishing 3-for-3 as All-Star Game MVP surely eased Ichiro's disappointment. The rest of us got a highlight-reel reminder of the right fielder's remarkable ability to hit and run, as well as a lesson in the unpredictability of baseball. 'A lot of angles on that wall,' said then-Phillies outfielder Aaron Rowand, who made the lone All-Star appearance of his career in 2007 before later playing four years for the Giants. 'If you haven't played there a lot, you can play it wrong. You have to be ready for the ball to bound in any direction.' Advertisement With Ichiro's speed, Griffey — who had thrown out Alex Rodriguez at the plate an inning before — had no chance to get him at home. Ichiro scored without a play, sprinting into a dugout celebration of superstars and eventual Hall of Famers. At one point, Manny Ramírez began to fan Ichiro with a towel while Ichiro sat on the bench and laughed. 'As soon as the ball bounced the other way, he could have walked home,' David Wright told the New York Times after the game. Other players expressed similar in-the-moment awe. Even among the greatest players of the era, Ichiro was a singular talent, with a style all his own. 'The things he did, we had never really seen people do,' Roberts said. 'He was a quirky guy, but he was so fun to be around, and honestly, one of the greatest teammates I ever had. But when it comes to something like that, it does seem very fitting. … To have that kind of moment fits him. Nobody was cooler than Ichiro.' That 2007 All-Star Game was stacked with now-legends and could have been an ideal curtain call for Bonds, who was playing in his home ballpark, but Ichiro stole the show. 'It's one that I'll never forget,' Ichiro said at the time. 'The past six years, I never had an All-Star that I really thought I gave it my all or was able to give it my all. So, I'm really happy. It was a fun All-Star Game.' Later this month, Ichiro will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where his bronze likeness will join Griffey's in the plaque gallery. Griffey and Ichiro first met in 1995 during Ichiro's first tour of America, and they first played together in 1999 when Ichiro attended spring training (a year before his big-league debut). They were officially teammates in 2009 and 2010, Griffey's last two seasons with the Mariners. Despite their friendship, Griffey said Suzuki has never brought up that homer. 'He's not that way,' Griffey said. (Photo of Ichiro hitting an inside-the-park home run in the 2007 All-Star Game: Jeff Gross / Getty Images)
Washington Post
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Cal Raleigh ties Ken Griffey Jr.'s Mariners record for home runs before All-Star break with 35
SEATTLE — On the spot, Cal Raleigh compiled a laundry list of players he would consider for a Mount Rushmore of Seattle Mariners following their 6-0 victory over Pittsburgh on Friday. Ichiro was one of the first names off the board, followed by the likes of stud starting pitchers Felix Hernandez and Randy Johnson. When identifying who is the face of the Mariners, though, Raleigh immediately landed on Ken Griffey Jr., who he tied for the franchise record for home runs before the All-Star break with 35 with a pair of blasts.
