The right arm is held stiff at a 90-degree angle towards the pitcher, the bat is held straight up, and the left arm crosses the chest to adjust the right sleeve. This pose occurred over 10,000 times in MLB, and has become one of the most iconic in the game. The stance, along with the player, are now headed to Cooperstown.
Twenty-three years after his debut, Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Falling one vote short of unanimity, Ichiro is undoubtedly one of the most important baseball players in the history of the game as he is now the first Asian-born player to be enshrined in the hall.
Having already played nine seasons of professional baseball in Japan before crossing the Pacific, it was clear that Ichiro’s bat-to-ball skills were second-to-none. With just over 1,200 hits to his name in professional baseball, the Orix BlueWave would decide to post the Japanese sensation to make the transition to MLB. The Mariners would end up winning the bid to negotiate with him exclusively for the price of $13 million. After agreeing to a three-year, $14 million deal, Ichiro was coming to Seattle.
There were many Ichiro sceptics before making his debut in 2001. His small stature and unorthodox swing led to questions on whether his bat-to-ball skills would translate to a tougher pitching environment in America.
Any and all critics were shut up pretty quickly when Ichiro put up one of the best rookie seasons ever. In a major league leading 738 plate appearances, he led the American League in batting average (.350), and led the entire league in hits (242) and stolen bases (56). This performance earned him an All-Star selection, Gold Glove Award, Silver Slugger Award, the American League Rookie of the Year Award, and American League MVP.
Over the next 10 and a half seasons with the Mariners, Ichiro would become one of the most popular players in the game. The right field sections of Safeco Field would be lined with supporters with homemade “Hit Counter” signs. It certainly helped that Seattle is known for having a large Asian-American population, which only fueled his stardom more.
After a nine-year NPB career and 19-year MLB career, Ichiro boasts a career .322 batting average in a staggering 14,832 plate appearances. If you combined his hit total from both leagues he would lead professional baseball history with 4,367 hits. In 2004, he broke the major league single-season hit record with 262, a record that had been held for 84 years. Ichiro’s trophy case is full of numerous awards he won between both leagues, but his most important contribution is to his influence with Japanese baseball players.
Preceded by famed Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo, Ichiro’s rise to superstar status broke the glass ceiling when it came to Japanese ball players going to America. During his playing career Ichiro’s face was on millions of televisions and billboards in Japan. His popularity, coupled with the following debut of Hideki Matsui who became a household name in the Bronx only solidified that players from the NPB could be successful in the MLB. The current face of the sport Shohei Ohtani has gone on record saying that he idolised Ichiro growing up, showing how Ichiro’s legacy in Japan is multi-generational.
Ichiro will go down as the most one-of-a-kind player in baseball history, and easily the best pure contact hitter the sport has ever seen. Ichiro’s formal induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame will occur on 27 July in Cooperstown, New York.
It was also announced that the Seattle Mariners will be retiring number 51 in honour of Ichiro in a ceremony on 9 August at T-Mobile Park.
Photo Credit: Featured image by Elaine Thompson/AP
Jake Tomasello is a Mariners fan from Seattle, and can be found on Twitter @RaiseTheTrident.
