Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki (?? ??, Suzuki Ichirō, ????, born October 22, 1973 in Toyoyama, Nishikasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is the right fielder for the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team. He moved to the United States in 2001 after playing for seven years for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League. When the Blue Wave granted his release after the 2000 season, Ichiro signed a contract with the Mariners. He became the first Japanese-born everyday position player in the Major Leagues.

Career in Major League Baseball

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.

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Not only did he prove he belonged, Ichiro had a remarkable 2001 season, accumulating 242 hits (the most by any player since 1930) 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. 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.The flight agencies also benefited from Ichiro, many Ichiro fans were flying in and out of the country just to see him play. (Whiting, 2004, pp. 25-31)

Related Topics:
2001 season - 1930 - Sports Illustrated

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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. Some sportswriters criticized his official "rookie" status, saying that his years of experience in the Japanese "major leagues" gave him an unfair advantage over other rookie players who had little or no prior major league experience.

Related Topics:
All-Star Game - American League - Most Valuable Player - Rookie of the Year - Fred Lynn - Rookie

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Ichiro was also a four-time Gold Glove winner from 2001 through 2004. His success has opened the door for other Japanese players like Yomiuri Giants slugger Hideki Matsui to enter the Major Leagues.

Related Topics:
Slugger - Hideki Matsui

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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.

Related Topics:
Name - Surname - Vida Blue

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Ichiro's career is followed closely in his native 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.

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Record-setting 2004 season

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

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• August 26: With a home run off of 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.
• September 17: He broke the 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.
• 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 and an MLB-leading .372 batting average. His 225 Singles in 2004 shattered the previous all-era record of 206, set by Wee Willie Keeler in 1898. Ichiro's 704 at bats fell one short of Willie Wilson's record of 705.

In addition to these records, Ichiro also started in the All-Star Game for the fourth consecutive year, and led all leadoff hitters in batting average, on base percentage, and on-base plus slugging.

Related Topics:
On base percentage - On-base plus slugging

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