119 Facts About Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki played nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball, where he began his career, and 14 with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball.

Ichiro Suzuki returned to the Mariners for his final two seasons.

In 2001, Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born position player to be posted and signed to an MLB club.

Ichiro Suzuki led the American League in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP.

Ichiro Suzuki was the first MLB player to enter the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Related searches

Ichiro Suzuki was a ten-time MLB All-Star and won the 2007 All-Star Game MVP Award for a three-hit performance that included the event's first-ever inside-the-park home run.

Ichiro Suzuki won a Rawlings Gold Glove Award in each of his first 10 years in the majors and had an American League–record seven hitting streaks of 20 or more games, with a high of 27.

Ichiro Suzuki was noted for the longevity of his career, continuing to produce at a high level with slugging, and on-base percentages above.

Ichiro Suzuki set a number of batting records, including MLB's single-season record for hits with 262.

Ichiro Suzuki achieved 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player in history.

In 2016, Ichiro Suzuki notched the 3,000th hit of his MLB career, against Chris Rusin of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, becoming only the 30th player ever to do so.

Ichiro Suzuki grew up in Toyoyama, a small town just outside Nagoya.

At the age of seven, Ichiro joined his first baseball team and asked his father, Nobuyuki Suzuki, to teach him to be a better player.

The elder Suzuki 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 Star of the Giants, " a popular Japanese manga and anime series about a young baseball prospect's difficult road to success, with rigorous training demanded by the father.

Ichiro Suzuki was primarily used as a pitcher instead of as an outfielder, owing to his exceptionally strong arm.

Ichiro Suzuki built strength and stamina by hurling car tires and hitting Wiffle balls with a heavy shovel, among other regimens.

Ichiro Suzuki was eventually moved to the leadoff spot, where his immediate productivity dissolved any misgivings about his unconventional swing.

Ichiro Suzuki set a Japanese single-season record with 210 hits, the first player ever to top 200 hits in a single season.

Ichiro Suzuki hit 13 home runs and had 29 stolen bases, helping him to earn his first of three straight Pacific League MVP awards.

Ichiro Suzuki is the second-most-common family name in Japan, and his manager introduced the idea as a publicity move to help create a new image for what had been a relatively weak team, as well as a way to distinguish their rising star.

In 1995, Ichiro Suzuki led the Blue Wave to its first Pacific League pennant in 12 years.

The following year, with Ichiro Suzuki winning his third-straight MVP award, the team defeated the Central League champion, Yomiuri Giants, in the Japan Series.

In November 1998, Ichiro Suzuki participated in a seven-game exhibition series between Japanese and American all-stars.

In 2000, Ichiro Suzuki was still a year away from being eligible for free agency, but the Blue Wave was no longer among Japan's best teams.

Ichiro Suzuki's move to the United States was viewed with some interest because he was among the first Japanese position players to play for an MLB team.

Related searches

Ichiro Suzuki made an auspicious debut with Seattle, and in the Mariners' eighth game revealed his tremendous throwing arm by gunning down Oakland's Terrence Long, who had tried to advance from first to third on a teammate's single to right field.

Ichiro Suzuki was initially hesitant because it had previously been worn by pitching star Randy Johnson.

Ichiro Suzuki's trepidation was unfounded, as he had a remarkable 2001 season, accumulating a rookie-record 242 hits, breaking Lloyd Waner's rookie record of 223 hits dating back in 1927, and the most hits by any MLB player since 1930.

Ichiro Suzuki is the only player in major league history to have won an MVP, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove Award, Silver Slugger Award, all while starting in the All-Star Game in the same season.

Ichiro Suzuki finished his second year in American baseball with 208 total hits, making him the first Mariners player ever with two consecutive seasons of 200+ hits.

Ichiro Suzuki got off to a hot start in 2002, but a late-season slump drove his batting average down to.

Ichiro Suzuki was the fifth player in MLB history to start a career with two 200-hit seasons.

Ichiro Suzuki finished the season second in the AL in hits, fourth in batting average, and fourth in steals.

Ichiro Suzuki led the major league All-Star balloting for the second straight year.

In 2003, Ichiro Suzuki became just the third player in history to begin his career with three 200-hit seasons, by garnering 212.

Ichiro Suzuki was elected to his third All-Star game in the three years he had been in the league, and he was again the vote leader in both leagues.

Ichiro Suzuki had his best offensive season in 2004, highlighted by his breaking of George Sisler's 84-year-old record for most hits in a season.

Ichiro Suzuki recorded 50 hits in four different months of the year, becoming the first player ever to have four in a season.

Ichiro Suzuki was greeted by a swarm of teammates, and a standing ovation from the fans.

Ichiro Suzuki finished the 2004 season with a record of 262 hits, giving him the single-season records for both the United States and Japanese baseball.

From 2001 to 2004, Ichiro Suzuki had more hits than anyone in history over any four-year period, breaking the record of 918 that Bill Terry accumulated from 1929 to 1932; Terry played in 34 fewer games than Ichiro Suzuki during their respective four-year spans.

In 2005, Ichiro Suzuki had his second worst year in his MLB career to date, collecting only 206 hits.

That allowed Ichiro Suzuki to become the first player to collect 200 hits per season in each of his first five years in the Major Leagues.

Ichiro Suzuki played for the Japan national baseball team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006.

Ichiro Suzuki won a Fielding Bible Award as the best fielding MLB right fielder.

Related searches

Ichiro Suzuki began wearing high stocking baseball pants in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

In May and June, Ichiro Suzuki hit in 25 consecutive games, breaking the previous Seattle Mariners record set by Joey Cora in 1997.

Ichiro Suzuki broke Tim Raines' American League record by stealing 41 consecutive bases without being caught.

Ichiro Suzuki extended the record to 45; the major league record of 50 belongs to Vince Coleman.

Ichiro Suzuki was provided with either a new Jeep or Mercedes SUV, as well as a personal trainer and interpreter.

On 29 July 2007, Ichiro Suzuki collected his 1,500th US hit, the third fastest to reach the MLB milestone behind Al Simmons and George Sisler.

Ichiro Suzuki had 213 hits in 2008, his eighth straight 200-hit season.

Typically, Ichiro Suzuki was among baseball's leaders in reaching base on an error, and in infield hits.

Ichiro Suzuki has amassed more than 450 infield hits in his US career.

On 29 July 2008, Ichiro Suzuki became the second-youngest player to amass 3,000 top-level professional hits after Ty Cobb.

Ichiro Suzuki became just the second Japanese professional to get 3,000 hits.

Ichiro Suzuki ended the night 4-for-6, bringing his total to 6-for-10 in WBC championship games.

Ichiro Suzuki began his 2009 season by going on the disabled list for the first time in his career.

Ichiro Suzuki went on to record 44 hits in June 2009, his 20th career month with 40 or more hits.

Ichiro Suzuki is the second-fastest player to reach the milestone, behind Al Simmons.

Ichiro Suzuki recorded 210 hits with Orix in 1994, thereby giving him a total of ten 200 hit seasons in his professional career.

Ichiro Suzuki's homer made a winner out of Felix Hernandez, who was in line for the loss despite having allowed only one run in 9 innings pitched.

On 26 September 2009, Ichiro Suzuki was ejected from a game for the first time in his professional career.

Ichiro Suzuki was the only Mariner to be ejected from a game all season.

Ichiro Suzuki won his second Fielding Bible Award as the best fielding right fielder in MLB.

Related searches

On 5 June 2010, Ichiro Suzuki scored his 1,000th career MLB run against the Angels on Franklin Gutierrez's RBI groundout.

On 1 September 2010, Ichiro Suzuki collected his 2,200th hit, a leadoff infield single against Cleveland Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin.

Ichiro Suzuki finished the season with 214 hits, topping the MLB in that category.

Ichiro Suzuki finished the season "ironman" style, playing in all 162 games.

Ichiro Suzuki finished first or second in hits in all of his first 10 MLB seasons.

Ichiro Suzuki won his tenth consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2010, tying Ken Griffey Jr.

Ichiro Suzuki won his second consecutive and third overall Fielding Bible Award for his statistically based defensive excellence in right field, as the only right fielder to have so far received multiple Bible awards.

On 2 April 2011, Ichiro Suzuki broke the Seattle Mariners' all-time career hits record with his 2,248th hit in the 9th inning versus the Oakland Athletics, overtaking the team's previous leader Edgar Martinez.

Ichiro Suzuki followed with an 11-game hitting streak, but Wedge noted "it's not that easy to give that guy a day off" due to Ichiro Suzuki's iconic stature.

On 19 June 2012, Ichiro Suzuki led off a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a single to center field, the 2,500th hit of his MLB career.

Ichiro Suzuki reached the milestone in the fourth-fewest games in major league history, after Al Simmons, Ty Cobb, and George Sisler.

Ichiro Suzuki had been tried at the three-spot in the batting order during a season for which he earned $18 million.

Ichiro Suzuki knows they have to play the younger guys and get them more playing time.

Ichiro Suzuki approached the Mariners to ask for a trade at midseason in 2012.

Ichiro Suzuki would go on to hit safely in his first 12 games as a Yankee, tying a record set by Don Slaught.

Ichiro Suzuki wore number 31 during his tenure with the Yankees, as his traditional 51 had not been used since the 2006 retirement of Bernie Williams, who wore it while playing for the Yankees; the Yankees retired the number in 2015.

In Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS, Ichiro Suzuki hit his first career postseason home run; however, the Yankees lost the series to the Detroit Tigers in 4 games.

On 19 December 2012, Ichiro Suzuki finalized a $13 million deal for two years with the Yankees.

On 25 June 2013, Ichiro Suzuki hit a walk-off home run against Rangers pitcher Tanner Scheppers with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

On 21 August 2013, Ichiro collected his 4,000th professional career hit with a single off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R A Dickey, becoming the seventh player in professional baseball history known to have reached the mark after Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Julio Franco, Hank Aaron, Jigger Statz, and Stan Musial.

Related searches

On 10 July 2014, Ichiro Suzuki collected his 2,800th MLB hit off of Cleveland Indians pitcher Scott Atchison in the top of the eighth inning at Progressive Field.

On 9 August 2014, Ichiro Suzuki hit a single in a game against the Astros to pass George Sisler on the all-time hit list with his 2,811th hit.

Ichiro Suzuki had previously broken Sisler's single season hit record in the 2004 season.

On 23 January 2015, Ichiro Suzuki agreed to a one-year, $2 million contract with the Miami Marlins.

Ichiro Suzuki stole his 500th career MLB base on 29 April 2016, against the Milwaukee Brewers, and led off the game with a single against Zach Davies to move ahead of Frank Robinson into 33rd place on the all-time MLB hit list with the 2,944th hit of his career.

Ichiro Suzuki is just the second player to reach that milestone by way of a triple, joining Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.

Ichiro Suzuki became one of only seven players to have collected 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.

On 25 June, Ichiro Suzuki became the oldest player to start a game in center field since at least 1900, breaking the record previously held by Rickey Henderson.

On 7 March 2018, Ichiro Suzuki signed a one-year contract to return to the Mariners after several team outfielders were injured during spring training.

On 3 May, the Mariners announced that Ichiro Suzuki would move to the front office as a special assistant to the chairman for the remainder of the season, but Ichiro Suzuki did not rule out a possible return as a player for the 2019 season.

At the time of his sabbatical as an active player, Ichiro Suzuki held the record for most hits in Major League Baseball history by a foreign-born player.

On 2 October 2018, it was announced that Ichiro Suzuki would be on the Mariners' active roster when they opened the 2019 season against the Oakland Athletics in Japan.

Ichiro Suzuki was re-signed to a minor league deal on 23 January 2019.

On 20 March 2019, the Mariners opened the MLB season against the Athletics at the Tokyo Dome and Ichiro Suzuki started the game in right field, becoming at 45 years old the second oldest position player to start for a team on its opening day.

On 27 August 2022, Ichiro Suzuki was inducted into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame.

Ichiro Suzuki exists strictly within his own world, playing a game 100 percent unfamiliar to everyone else.

Ichiro Suzuki has long been interested in pitching professionally, and he actually took the mound to pitch to one batter in the 1996 NPB All Star game, reaching close to 91 MPH in warm up pitches.

Ichiro Suzuki is the only left-handed hitter in Major League history with at least 2,000 plate appearances against left-handed pitching to display a reverse platoon split—that is, he had better results hitting off left-handed pitchers than right-handed pitchers.

Ichiro Suzuki received recognition for playing superior defense in right field, with above-average range and a strong and accurate throwing arm.

Ichiro Suzuki is noted for his work ethic in arriving early for his team's games, and for his calisthenic stretching exercises to stay limber even during the middle of the game.

Related searches

Ichiro Suzuki's success has been credited with opening the door for other Japanese players like former Yomiuri Giants slugger Hideki Matsui, former Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks catcher Kenji Johjima, former teammate So Taguchi, and former Seibu Lions infielder Kazuo Matsui and active players Shohei Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki to enter the Major Leagues.

Ichiro Suzuki's career is followed closely in 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 attend his games.

Ichiro Suzuki's likeness is used as the basis of the character "Kyoshiro" in the anime and manga Major.

When O'Neil died in 2006, Ichiro Suzuki sent a very large memorial wreath to the funeral service.

When Ichiro Suzuki was traded to the Yankees in July 2012, longtime Mariners fan Ben Gibbard posted his tribute song, "Ichiro Suzuki's Theme", on his SoundCloud page.

The previous year, The Baseball Project had released the tribute song "Ichiro Suzuki Goes To The Moon" on their album Volume 2: High and Inside.

Ichiro Suzuki was the face of Kirin Brewery, a Japanese beer brand.

Ichiro Suzuki endorsed Yunker energy drink on behalf of Sato Pharmaceutical.

Ichiro Suzuki married Yumiko Fukushima, a former TBS TV announcer, on 3 December 1999, at a small church in Santa Monica, California.

Subsequently, Ichiro Suzuki's finances have been looked after by his wife Yumiko.

Ichiro Suzuki is the honored chairman of the Ichiro Suzuki Cup, a six-month-long boys' league tournament with more than 200 teams, held in Toyoyama and surrounding cities and towns since 1996.

Ichiro Suzuki speaks English well and often spoke it with his teammates in his playing days, but he uses an interpreter during interviews so that he is not misunderstood.

Ichiro Suzuki learned Spanish early in his MLB career, using it to trash talk to other players.

Ichiro Suzuki further explains he did it because he felt a kinship to the Latin American players who, like him, were foreigners trying to succeed in the US.