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RNZ News
4 hours ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Japan's Ichiro Suzuki paved way for generation of players
Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners, 2019. Photo: ICHIRO OHARA / AFP Ichiro Suzuki, a remarkable hitter with dazzling speed and arm strength, not only broke stereotypes during a career played across two continents but also blazed a trail for a generation of Japanese-born players in Major League Baseball. Suzuki, who proved his abilities despite starting his MLB journey at a relatively advanced age, became the first Japanese-born player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, on Sunday. Arriving from the Orix BlueWave of the Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball as a 27-year-old major league rookie with the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro wasted no time showing that his talent and determination translated on MLB diamonds. The slender Ichiro, with an unorthodox high leg kick to time his swing in the batter's box, turned routine ground balls into short infield singles with his speed down the line and made baserunners cautious with his strong arm in right field. Suzuki announced himself with an electric 2001 season in which he hit .350 to win the batting title with a rookie record 242 hits while swiping a league-leading 56 bases in sweeping Rookie of the Year and American League MVP honors. The batting title/stolen base double had last been achieved in 1949 by fabled trailblazer Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier as MLB's first African American player. Suzuki, who had won seven batting titles in a row and three straight Pacific League MVP awards in Japan, was just getting warmed up in the majors and quickly became a household name in Seattle. Following a strict daily practice routine and stretching regimen, Suzuki was a model of high level consistency during a 19-year MLB career that also included stops with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. He went on to post a record 10 consecutive seasons of at least 200 hits, reaching his zenith in 2004 when he stroked 262 hits to break an 84-year-old major league record set by George Sisler as he claimed another batting title with a .372 average. Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki batting in 2009. Photo: Bob Stanton/Icon SMI / PHOTOSPORT By the time he retired, Suzuki was a 10-times MLB All-Star who held the record for the most hits by a professional baseball player, including his time in Japan, with 4,367. Including his 1,278 hits for Orix in Japan, the claim has been made that with his major league hits total, Ichiro has surpassed the late Pete Rose, who is MLB's career hits leader with 4,256. "He's a guy who comes around once in a lifetime," Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who was a teammate of Suzuki's when the Japanese outfielder played with the Yankees from 2012 to 2014, once said. "No one's ever seen anybody like him. And to be quite honest, we probably won't see anybody like him again." Suzuki, who during his career smashed the perception that only Japanese pitchers were good enough to excel in MLB, not only inspired a generation of players but also prompted clubs to more aggressively scout and sign hitters from Japan. His rise to stardom while playing in MLB opened the door for fellow Japanese hitters like Hideki Matsuyama while current Los Angeles Dodgers two-way standout Shohei Ohtani has also referenced him as an inspiration. "Growing up, Ichiro was for me the way that I think some kids, some people, look at me today," Ohtani told GQ magazine in 2023. "Like I'm a different species. Larger than life. He was a superstar in Japan. He had this charisma about him." -Reuters
CNA
13 hours ago
- Sport
- CNA
Baseball-Japan's Suzuki paved way for generation of players
Ichiro Suzuki, a remarkable hitter with dazzling speed and arm strength, not only broke stereotypes during a career played across two continents but also blazed a trail for a generation of Japanese-born players in Major League Baseball. Suzuki, who proved his abilities despite starting his MLB journey at a relatively advanced age, became the first Japanese-born player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, on Sunday. Arriving from the Orix BlueWave of the Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball as a 27-year-old major league rookie with the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro wasted no time showing that his talent and determination translated on MLB diamonds. The slender Ichiro, with an unorthodox high leg kick to time his swing in the batter's box, turned routine ground balls into short infield singles with his speed down the line and made baserunners cautious with his strong arm in right field. Suzuki announced himself with an electric 2001 season in which he hit .350 to win the batting title with a rookie record 242 hits while swiping a league-leading 56 bases in sweeping Rookie of the Year and American League MVP honors. The batting title/stolen base double had last been achieved in 1949 by fabled trailblazer Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier as MLB's first African American player. Suzuki, who had won seven batting titles in a row and three straight Pacific League MVP awards in Japan, was just getting warmed up in the majors and quickly became a household name in Seattle. Following a strict daily practice routine and stretching regimen, Suzuki was a model of high level consistency during a 19-year MLB career that also included stops with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. He went on to post a record 10 consecutive seasons of at least 200 hits, reaching his zenith in 2004 when he stroked 262 hits to break an 84-year-old major league record set by George Sisler as he claimed another batting title with a .372 average. By the time he retired, Suzuki was a 10-times MLB All-Star who held the record for the most hits by a professional baseball player, including his time in Japan, with 4,367. Including his 1,278 hits for Orix in Japan, the claim has been made that with his major league hits total, Ichiro has surpassed the late Pete Rose, who is MLB's career hits leader with 4,256. "He's a guy who comes around once in a lifetime," Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who was a teammate of Suzuki's when the Japanese outfielder played with the Yankees from 2012 to 2014, once said. "No one's ever seen anybody like him. And to be quite honest, we probably won't see anybody like him again." Suzuki, who during his career smashed the perception that only Japanese pitchers were good enough to excel in MLB, not only inspired a generation of players but also prompted clubs to more aggressively scout and sign hitters from Japan. His rise to stardom while playing in MLB opened the door for fellow Japanese hitters like Hideki Matsuyama while current Los Angeles Dodgers two-way standout Shohei Ohtani has also referenced him as an inspiration. "Growing up, Ichiro was for me the way that I think some kids, some people, look at me today," Ohtani told GQ magazine in 2023. "Like I'm a different species. Larger than life. He was a superstar in Japan. He had this charisma about him."
Reuters
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Japan's Suzuki paved way for generation of players
July 28 (Reuters) - Ichiro Suzuki, a remarkable hitter with dazzling speed and arm strength, not only broke stereotypes during a career played across two continents but also blazed a trail for a generation of Japanese-born players in Major League Baseball. Suzuki, who proved his abilities despite starting his MLB journey at a relatively advanced age, became the first Japanese-born player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, on Sunday. Arriving from the Orix BlueWave of the Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball as a 27-year-old major league rookie with the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro wasted no time showing that his talent and determination translated on MLB diamonds. The slender Ichiro, with an unorthodox high leg kick to time his swing in the batter's box, turned routine ground balls into short infield singles with his speed down the line and made baserunners cautious with his strong arm in right field. Suzuki announced himself with an electric 2001 season in which he hit .350 to win the batting title with a rookie record 242 hits while swiping a league-leading 56 bases in sweeping Rookie of the Year and American League MVP honors. The batting title/stolen base double had last been achieved in 1949 by fabled trailblazer Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier as MLB's first African American player. Suzuki, who had won seven batting titles in a row and three straight Pacific League MVP awards in Japan, was just getting warmed up in the majors and quickly became a household name in Seattle. Following a strict daily practice routine and stretching regimen, Suzuki was a model of high level consistency during a 19-year MLB career that also included stops with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. He went on to post a record 10 consecutive seasons of at least 200 hits, reaching his zenith in 2004 when he stroked 262 hits to break an 84-year-old major league record set by George Sisler as he claimed another batting title with a .372 average. By the time he retired, Suzuki was a 10-times MLB All-Star who held the record for the most hits by a professional baseball player, including his time in Japan, with 4,367. Including his 1,278 hits for Orix in Japan, the claim has been made that with his major league hits total, Ichiro has surpassed the late Pete Rose, who is MLB's career hits leader with 4,256. "He's a guy who comes around once in a lifetime," Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who was a teammate of Suzuki's when the Japanese outfielder played with the Yankees from 2012 to 2014, once said. "No one's ever seen anybody like him. And to be quite honest, we probably won't see anybody like him again." Suzuki, who during his career smashed the perception that only Japanese pitchers were good enough to excel in MLB, not only inspired a generation of players but also prompted clubs to more aggressively scout and sign hitters from Japan. His rise to stardom while playing in MLB opened the door for fellow Japanese hitters like Hideki Matsuyama while current Los Angeles Dodgers two-way standout Shohei Ohtani has also referenced him as an inspiration. "Growing up, Ichiro was for me the way that I think some kids, some people, look at me today," Ohtani told GQ magazine in 2023. "Like I'm a different species. Larger than life. He was a superstar in Japan. He had this charisma about him."
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Sport
- Kyodo News
Baseball: Ichiro nervous, grateful ahead of Hall of Fame induction
Cooperstown, New York - Ichiro Suzuki expressed his excitement and his appreciation for his former coach Saturday ahead of being inducted to the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame. The 51-year-old became the first Asian-born player elected to the hall in January and is set to give a speech in English before a crowd of tens of thousands during the induction ceremony Sunday in Cooperstown, New York. "Of course I'm nervous. I'm almost getting crushed by the pressure," Ichiro, who had 3,089 hits during his Major Baseball League career between 2001 and 2019 while winning 10 Gold Gloves, told a press conference with a wry smile. Ichiro, who set the major league record for most hits in a season with 262 in 2004, was thankful to his former Orix BlueWave manager, the late Akira Ogi, for making the unusual move of registering him as a Nippon Professional Baseball player under the first name by which he would become widely known. "If he were here, he would be smiling happily," Ichiro said. "Life gets decided by who you meet at the end of the day, and he gave me the biggest influence. I can't thank him enough." Ichiro waved to fans cheering and chanting his name as he sat alongside his wife Yumiko in the back of a pickup truck during a parade in Cooperstown later in the day.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Japan Times
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear
Kelvin Torve, a former MLB player in the midst of his first year with the Orix BlueWave in 1992, stumbled upon a curious sight when he arrived for stretching one day at Green Stadium Kobe. A solitary figure was standing in center field, facing the stands. He was holding his hat over his heart and shouting the same phrase over and over into the afternoon sky. Torve watched for several minutes before waving over an interpreter. 'What's gotten into Suzuki?' he asked. As it turns out, the young outfielder had allowed a ball to drop during the previous day's game because he and the second baseman had not communicated on the play. So the Orix coaches devised a way to teach him to make himself heard. 'My name is Ichiro Suzuki,' came the shouts from the outfield, 'and I'm learning to use my voice!' Ichiro will not have any trouble making himself heard when he is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. He will speak on the grounds of Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York, but his words will reverberate around the globe — from Seattle to Kobe and everywhere in between — buoyed by a 19-year MLB career full of highlights and records. He is the first Japanese player to be elected. Torve often thinks back to that day when people ask him about Ichiro. He is now a manager, leading the Post 22 Hardhats, a powerhouse program in American Legion Baseball, a developmental organization for teenagers, and he tells his players he will make them do the same thing Ichiro did if needed. The other thing he usually recalls about Ichiro is 'just how much fun it was to watch him play.' Ichiro gets a base hit during a game with the BlueWave in June 2000. Ichiro went on to post a .387 batting average for the season, his final year in NPB. | Jiji In the years after being taught a hard lesson by the Orix coaches, Ichiro grew to become a superstar — first in Japan and then in North America — and then an icon. 'The fact that he accomplished so much in such a bizarre way, meaning he tore up Japanese baseball for a decade, and then he comes over to the United States and tears it up over here,' Torve said. 'So it was just the joy of watching that success and knowing the kind of guy he was, and is, that I celebrated with him.' Ichiro exhibited the same mastery of his bat that a great artist might with a paintbrush. In the outfield, he mixed feats of supreme agility with flashes of raw power from right field. He did everything — from the way he held his bat in the batter's box to the graceful way he comported himself — with an undeniable air of cool and charisma. Ichiro finished his MLB career with 3,089 hits. He is one of only 33 players to reach the 3,000-hit milestone, despite making his debut with the Seattle Mariners at age 27. He recorded at least 200 hits in an MLB record 10-straight seasons (from 2001 to 2010), and set the single-season record with 262 in 2004. He won the American League batting title in 2001 and 2004. 'His bat on ball ability was just incredible,' says former sports columnist Larry Stone, who saw Ichiro's two stints with the Mariners during his 27 years with the Seattle Times before retiring in November 2023. 'There is the famous story about how he wasn't hitting in spring training. He wasn't pulling anything or driving the ball. And (Seattle manager) Lou Piniella told him, 'I need to see that you can pull the ball.' That very day, he had a long home run to right field. It just seemed at times that he could put the ball where he wanted to at will. 'He played with a certain charisma, too, that all the great ones have. You could tell that from the beginning, the way he carried himself. It was special. I think when it became cemented that he was a Hall of Famer was 2004, when he set the single-season hit record. I think we all knew then that he was on a Hall of Fame path.' Ichiro leaves the field after playing in his final MLB game on March 21, 2019, at Tokyo Dome. | USA TODAY / VIA REUTERS It was not as readily evident from the start. Before Ichiro took MLB by storm, he had to prove himself in Japan. Ichiro was not selected until the fourth round of the 1991 draft. The BlueWave used their first pick on infielder So Taguchi, who later moved to MLB and helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the 2006 World Series. Taguchi picked up another ring with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. Torve arrived in Kobe during the same offseason. He recalls a young Ichiro as a quiet and deferential player who earned the respect of those around him. 'He was so young when he joined Orix,' Torve said. 'He rode his bike to the games. I don't even know if he had a car or if he had a driver's license. But you realized very quickly: This kid can play. 'Back then, nobody went from Japan to the United States. Hideo Nomo was the first guy to really do it, and that was the year after I left. But I watched Ichiro play for a couple of years, and I go 'Gosh, it's just a shame this kid won't be able to go play in the United States, because I think he's a big leaguer.' 'The only thing he really didn't do well when I played with him was throw. But when you're 18, you're not going to throw like you are when you're 21 or 22. Obviously, he figured out the throwing thing, because he was almost a five-tool guy in the big leagues.' Torve, who hit .305 in his first year with Orix, was among the few Americans on the ground floor for Ichiro's formative years as a pro player. Ichiro, used sparingly by manager Shozo Doi, played in 40 games for the top team in his first season, batting .253. He hit .188 in 43 games in Year 2. 'First year, he was up and down with the minor leagues, and I was as well,' Torve said. 'Second year, kind of the same thing. I probably played with him 150, 175 games. So you get a good, long look at a guy, you see him day in and day out. You see how they act when things are going well, you see how they act when things are going poorly, and things very rarely went poorly for Ichiro.' Ichiro had his breakout season in 1994 under new manager Akira Ogi, an iconoclast who had managed Nomo in the pitcher's first three seasons with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1990 to 1992. He was the reason Ichiro changed his registered name to 'Ichiro' in katakana and wore his given name on his uniform instead of his surname. It was a way to help Ichiro stand out with one of the most common surnames in Japan. Ogi, whose tactics and knack for winning became known as 'Ogi Magic' saw Ichiro's potential and used him in all 130 games in 1994. Ichiro batted .385 — still the third-best single-season average in NPB history. He finished with 210 hits, the first 200-hit campaign in NPB history and a total that stood as the single-season mark until the Hanshin Tigers' Matt Murton finished with 214 in 2010, though Murton played in 14 more games. Ichiro also won the first of three straight Pacific League MVP awards that season. He led the BlueWave to the PL pennant in 1995. He helped the club win the title again in 1996, and Orix followed it up by beating the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series. Altogether, Ichiro hit .353 and recorded 1,278 hits in nine seasons in NPB. When combined with his MLB total, he finished with 4,367 hits, the most all-time in professional baseball. Ichiro talks with Mariners manager Lou Piniella after practice in Peoria, Arizona, in February 2001. Ichiro was the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP in his first MLB season. | REUTERS He signed with the Mariners after the 2000 season and had to prove himself to a new league, teammates and fans as the first position player from Japan to sign with an MLB team. 'I think he came in with some humility,' Stone said. 'He knew he was a great player, but he also knew that he was not as established as he had been in Japan. He couldn't come in with a superstar's air about him until he proved himself.' There were plenty of questions. 'There was skepticism,' Stone said. 'There's no doubt there was skepticism. I've talked to a lot of players from that (2001) team and, particularly in spring training. I mean, we think now that he was a lock to succeed, but I don't think he was. 'Even from Lou Piniella, the manager, on down ... I think he had to prove it to them. But it didn't take long, I think by, you know, by the end of April, I think he had won them over. He was well over .300 and doing things that they hadn't seen before in a way they hadn't seen before.' Ichiro also won over his new teammates off the field. 'I think the players were fond of him,' Stone said. 'That initial group. I think later on, there might have been some Ichiro backlash from his teammates. But the original group, with Bret Boone, Mike Cameron, those guys, they treated him like one of them and teased him, affectionately teased him, and I think it was a good relationship in that clubhouse.' Ichiro was the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP in his first MLB season. He is one of two players to win the awards in the same year. He went on to make 10 consecutive All-Star teams and win 10 straight Gold Gloves in the outfield during his first stint with the Mariners from 2001 to 2012. He also won three Silver Slugger awards. Ichiro was traded to the New York Yankees during the 2012 season and spent two more years there. He was with the Miami Marlins — where he recorded his 3,000th hit and made his only MLB appearance as a pitcher — from 2015 to 2017. Ichiro collects his 200th hit of the season against the Blue Jays' Shawn Hill on Sept. 23, 2010. It was the star's 10th straight 200-hit season, an MLB record. | REUTERS He returned to Seattle for the 2018 season before getting a hero's sendoff in the final game of his career at Tokyo Dome on March 21, 2019. He remains around the team as a special assistant to the chairman. Ichiro still dresses in full uniform and works out with the team and helps as a de facto instructor. He is perhaps as beloved in Seattle as he is in Japan. Stone ranks him among a tier of players who are second only to Ken Griffey Jr. in terms of stature in the franchise's history. Ichiro will be the third player to go into Cooperstown with a Mariners logo on his plaque, following Griffey and Edgar Martinez. 'Obviously, he wasn't the same player when he came back,' Stone said. 'Really by the time he left Seattle, he was in decline as a player. But he had an aura. I think his aura grew even maybe as the skills were declining. By the time he came back to Seattle, he was really a legendary (figure). I think players were in awe of him. 'That was an interesting evolution. When he first came there, there was the mystery. What is this guy? When he came back and finished his career, it was like everybody knew that he was an all-time guy. I think that stature really was a part of his persona by the time he finished in Seattle. 'Still to this day. He's out there almost every day, working out and shagging (fly balls), and I think players who come up to the big leagues, or come to the Mariners, they can't believe that that is Ichiro out there. It's almost a mythical status that he has now and had at the end of his career.' Like Torve, Stone will be listening intently when Ichiro uses his voice on stage at the induction ceremony. Stone plans to be in attendance and is eager to see what the baseball great will say once he has the world's attention, even if he doesn't have to shout to be heard this time. 'When he went into the Mariners Hall of Fame, at the ceremony, he gave his speech in English, and it was, as I recall, it was a tremendous speech,' Stone said. 'I think my hunch is he'll give this speech in English as well. He'll probably have a message in Japanese as well. But I'm just looking forward to hearing him talk in English for an extended period of time and what he has to say.'
