FanPost Friday: Ichiro recollections throughout the years

Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday. It’s been a pretty nice week in Mariners fan land because on Tuesday we got the news we’d all been waiting for: Ichiro Suzuki is a MLB Hall of Famer. The best hitter in Japan who came to play for the Seattle Mariners as a 27-year-old in 2001 and proceeded to crush every doubt ever cast upon his ability to stick in Major League Baseball.

We’ve covered his career accomplishments from many angles so far. Given her experience working at the Hall of Fame, Isabelle gave us a walk through of what his next official visit would be like in Cooperstown. Kate was on hand for press conference at T-Mobile Park and wrote more about Ichiro’s personal affinity for the “peace of baseball” that Cooperstown brings him and others.

Ichiro is a player who pre-dates LL as a website and community, but many, many writers have covered his brilliance here over the years. Griffey may always be my first favorite player as I was becoming aware of baseball and the Mariners in general sometime around 1990, but Ichiro is the first Mariners player that I feel like I’ve truly been able to witness his entire arc as a franchise star. I’ve written about how I was lucky enough to have been there at his debut in 2001 and then how 17 years later I was there at 2018 home opener for his return to the team after a few seasons studying abroad with the Yankees and Marlins. I’ve been a few feet away from him as he ran out to the practice fields in Peoria. I got to attend his retirement ceremony in 2019. And now we all get to witness him receive the highest honor possible for a MLB player this summer. In a world so rife with conflict and hard times, I just feel so grateful for the years of joy and wonder that Ichiro gave us as a Seattle Mariner. He was a constant for so long, longer than most MLB players can dream of. And he was our guy. Our iconoclast. Our baseball magician.

Before we get to the prompt, I just want to make sure everyone reads this story that Mike Sweeney told about his time with the 2009 Mariners (it’s the last story, but the whole piece is great), a squad many of us longtime LLers have very fond memories of for a 3rd place team. The perception held by many, and somewhat backed up here by the story, was that Ichiro wasn’t having the best time with the Mariners in the mid 00’s. The teams were bad, he was in his prime still, and there had been alleged friction (or perhaps a lack of any connection) with his teammates as he went about his daily business of being one the best ballplayers in the world. I just want everyone to read this story and know that IN SPITE of all that, he wanted to play on Opening Day in 2009 while suffering from a bleeding ulcer and when informed he could DIE if it ruptured more mid-game, he apparently said “I’ll take my chances.”

Ichiro asked him what’s the worst thing that could happen. And the doc says, ‘If this bleeding ulcer, which is actively bleeding, if it ruptures, you could die.’ And Ichiro looked him square in the eyes and said, ‘I’ll take my chances.’ And the owner of the team had to step in.

This man was ready to DIE for the cosmically cursed, perennially unserious Seattle freakin’ Mariners. Ready to die for his craft. It was after this happened that Sweeney and Ken Griffey, Jr. made an effort to make sure the whole team fully embraced Ichiro as a teammate and that led to Ichiro apparently re-discovering his own sense of joy for playing the game. In the lead-up to Induction Weekend, I hope that we get to hear even more stories like this that had to be left in the margins during his playing career.

Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images

Ichiro gave us wonder, joy, loyalty, and a shining example we can always point to if we’re ever questioning the capability of greatness in humanity. A true “one out of one” ballplayer and person. Thank you for always being you, Ichiro.

PROMPT: Duh, talk about Ichiro! I know we’ve been doing it all week, so feel free to copy and paste your stories, but give us all your favorite Ichiro moments, anecdotes, and what you’re looking forward to hearing him talk about in his induction speech.

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