The beloved Japanese player is transitioning from pro to coach before the end of the year.
Ichiro
These short, sweet videos have Japan’s recently retired baseball star play the (board) game of life while musing on his real lived experiences.
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.
For conspiracy theorists, Area 51 is a location of high intrigue. Often called the most secret place on earth (well…the United States, anyway), this government base in Nevada is thought to be used for weapons testing and experimental aircraft – although very little is known about what really goes on there. Some of the more out-there theories include meetings with aliens, development of weather control, and even time travel.
Our Japanese reporter Go Hatori is a seasoned traveller and, when he’s not trolling would-be scammers online for his own amusement, loves nothing more than to take a solo trip somewhere mysterious. So Go headed into the Nevada desert – with a secret mission of his own!
On August 6 baseball magazine Baseball America chose Ichiro Suzuki as their number one on a list of the ‘Top 10 Most Prodigious Best Tools Winners Of The Millennium’, beating out greats such as Pujols and Verlander.
Of course he’s a legend in his home country of Japan, but during his many years in the major league he’s also gained plenty of American fans. To celebrate his win, we want to share this video of a ‘super happy Ichiro fan’, with ‘super happy’ being somewhat of an understatement.
Like many a baseball player in Japan, Munenori Kawasaki looks up to Japanese baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki. But Kawsasaki has been especially well known for his unflinching support of the future Hall of Famer. Even during his younger days of playing the sport in Kagoshima his style was compared to that of Ichiro.
Years later, on 21 August it would seem the stars aligned just right for Kawasaki as he found himself on the field just as Ichiro made his 4,000th professional hit in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. But Kawasaki’s pure enthusiasm that night might have even eclipsed his hero’s milestone.
Can you spot what’s wrong with this picture?
That’s right. This slide into home is going the wrong way. Some were concerned that future hall of famer Ichiro Suzuki may have been past his prime when added to the Yankees this year, but he certainly pulled his weight scoring the first run in their second divisional playoff game against Baltimore.
Ichiro, after being waved home suddenly found himself cut off by an early throw to Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters. Staring an inevitable 3rd out in the face, Ichiro wondered “What would Naruto Uzumaki do right now?”
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