Even if you’re not a fan of baseball, you’ve probably heard of Ichiro Suzuki. He was a starter for the Seattle Mariners for a number of years before heading to New York to play for the Yankees and then to the Miami Marlins for the 2015 season. He’s broken a number of records, received dozens of awards and is widely known to be a charismatic and respectful player. Since his debut as a professional baseball player, he’s played almost exclusively in the outfield because of his wicked throwing arm.
As one of Japan’s most prolific baseball stars, the country and the Internet collectively lost its mind when Ichiro pitched one full inning on the last day of the Major League Baseball regular season.
Ichiro may be a well-recognized name in the States, but he’s on the level of a god in Japan. Japanese media and baseball fans adoringly follow his career and there are even special tour packages just for Japanese fans to travel to the US and attend his games. He was an incredible pitcher in his high school days, but when he made his debut with the Orix Blue Wave based in Kobe, he was roaming the outfield rather than commanding the pitcher’s mound. He lobbied his manager for a chance to pitch in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, but that opportunity never arose.
When Ichiro made the move to the U.S., he became the first Japanese born position player to sign and play in the major leagues. Seattle wanted him for his amazing plate skills, which he displayed by setting a record with 10 consecutive seasons with 200 or more hits. The whole time he was in Seattle, he told his manager that if they ever needed a pitcher he could be their guy, but it never happened. After two years with the New York Yankees and no chances to pitch there either, Ichiro finally got the chance with the Miami Marlins on October 4, 2015.
[tweet https://twitter.com/MLB/status/650825738145304576 align=center] [tweet https://twitter.com/MLB/status/650791098827145216 align=center]Living out his lifelong dream of pitching in a professional baseball game, he completed an inning giving up two hits and one run. Ichiro strutted his stuff with a fastball in the mid to high 80s and a slider that fooled at least one major league hitter.
[tweet https://twitter.com/MLBsocial/status/651041395868700672 align=center]His pitching performance attempted to break the Internet as it was mentioned over 49,000 times on Twitter. It wasn’t a perfect outing by any means, but it doesn’t make Ichiro any less of a legend. He will be back with the Miami Marlins next season to continue being amazing.
[tweet https://twitter.com/MLBGIFs/status/650789218378080256 align=center]Source: Narinari
Top Image: Twitter/@MLB