Ichiro Suzuki Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
leader in Major League Baseball.]]Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木一朗, Suzuki Ichirō, born October 22, 1973 in Kasugai, 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 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.
2004 was his most impressive season yet, as he set a new all-time, single-season Major League record with 262 hits.
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2 Career in Japan 3 Career in the United States 4 External links 5 References |
When Ichiro joined his junior high school baseball team, his father told the coach, "No matter how good Ichiro is, don't ever praise him. We have to make him spiritually strong." When he was ready to enter high school, Ichiro was selected by a school with a prestigious baseball program, Nagoya's Aikodai Meiden Kokko. Among the strength drills he performed in training there were hurling car tires and hitting wiffle balls with a heavy shovel. These exercises helped develop his wrists and hips, adding power and endurance to his thin frame. Yet, despite the production of outstanding numbers in high school, Ichiro was not drafted until the fourth and final round of the professional draft in November, 1991 because many teams were put off by his small size, 5' 9", 120 pounds. (Whiting, 2004, pp. 2-12)
It was during the 1994 season that he became known as "Ichiro." Suzuki was the second most common surname in Japan, and his manager introduced the idea as a publicity stunt to help create a new image for what had been a relatively weak team and as a way to distinguish their rising star. Initially, Ichiro disliked and was embarrassed by the practice, but by the end of the season "Ichiro" was a household word and he was being flooded with endorsement offers. (Whiting, 2004, pp. 13-16)
In 1995, Ichiro led the Blue Wave to their first Pacific League pennant in 12 years. In addition to his second batting title, he led the league in RBIs with 80, hit 25 home runs, and stole 49 bases. By this time, the Japanese press had begun calling him the "Human Batting Machine." The following year, with Ichiro winning his third straight MVP award, the team defeated the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series. Following the 1996 season, playing in an exhibition series against a visiting team of Major League All-Stars kindled Ichiro's desire to travel to the United States to play in the Major Leagues.
In 2000, Ichiro was still a year away from being eligible for free agency, but the Blue Wave were no longer among Japan's best teams and would probably not be able to afford to keep him. In a move both charitable and practical, Manager Akira Ogi decided to release Ichiro from any obligations to the team and allow him to pursue his dream. After the 2000 season, in which Ichiro posted his highest batting average (.387), Seattle won a bidding war among Major League teams for the rights to negotiate with him on a contract. Ichiro signed a three-year, $14 million contract with the Mariners and became the first Japanese-born everyday position player in the Major Leagues.
In his nine seasons in Japan, Ichiro was a career .353 batter and, in addition to his hitting achievements, won seven Gold Glove Awards.
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 were taking $2,000 baseball tours from Japan 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. (Whiting, 2004, pp. 25-31)
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.
Ichiro also has been a four-time Gold Glove winner between 2001 and 2004. His success has opened the door for other Japanese players like Yomiuri Giants slugger Hideki Matsui to come to the Major Leagues.
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.
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.
Childhood preparation
At age seven, Ichiro joined his first baseball team and asked his father, Nobuyuki, to teach him to be a better player. The two began a daily routine which included:
As a Little Leaguer, Ichiro had the word shuchu — "concentration" — written on his glove. By age 12, he had set professional baseball as his goal and, while he apparently shared his father's vision, he did not enjoy their training sessions. Nobuyuki claimed, "Baseball was fun for both of us," but Ichiro later said, "It might have been fun for him, but for me it was a lot like Kyojin no Hoshi" (i.e., "Star of the Giants," a popular Japanese cartoon series that told of a young boy's difficult road to success as a professional baseball player). According to Ichiro, "It bordered on hazing and I suffered a lot."Career in Japan
Ichiro made his Pacific League debut in 1992 at the age of 18, but he spent most of two seasons with a farm team attempting to take his manager's advice to alter his swing. In 1994 he benefited from the arrival of a new manager who put him in the leadoff spot for the Blue Wave and allowed him to hit any way he wanted. He responded by setting a Japanese single-season record with 210 hits in 130 games for a Pacific League record .385 batting average and won the first of a record seven consecutive batting titles. He also hit 13 home runs and had 29 stolen bases, earning his first of three straight Pacific League Most Valuable Player awards.Career in the United States
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 until 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.Record-setting 2004 season
Ichiro set a number of Major League records during the 2004 season:
External links
References
| Preceded by: Jason Giambi | AL MVP 2001 | Followed by: Miguel Tejada |
| Preceded by: Kazuhiro Sasaki | AL Rookie of the Year 2001 | Followed by: Eric Hinske |
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