Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki, often referred to mononymously as Ichiro, is a Japanese professional baseball right fielder for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball. He has spent the bulk of his career with two teams: the Orix Blue Wave of Nippon Professional Baseballin Japan, where he began his professional career, and the Seattle Mariners of MLB in the United States. After playing for the Mariners, he played two and a half seasons in MLB with the New York Yankees. Ichiro has...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth22 October 1973
CountryJapan
My comments seemed to stir up a lot of things but they are going be interpreted in many ways anyway and I'm fine with that. I felt the weight of shouldering the Japanese flag and this primarily brought out my emotions in this tournament.
I am really proud that I am one of the two major league players to play in the final game. I do think that I have the Japanese flag on my shoulder.
Everybody in the states is so relaxed, and everybody in Japan is so uptight.
When I look at the records and see where my place in the history of the game (in Japan with Orix) might be, I guess you could say it was a good decision to come here. It's not just me. Maybe I'll have an effect on others in the international part of the game.
When you mail Ichiro something from the States, you only have to use that name on the address and he gets it (in Japan). He's that big.
I'm anxious to face them (major league pitchers) all, but in reality I'm looking forward most to (Boston's) Pedro Martinez. He was with the major league team that came to Japan in 1996, just before he became a superstar. I'm anxious to see how much he's improved. And I'm anxious to see how much I've improved against him.
I love baseball, but being here (in the United States), I've been able to play golf every day. I can't play in Japan because every course has caddies, and the caddies all want autographs and don't want to let me golf.
I felt the spirit and smartness of the Japanese players while playing with this team. It was a great team and I wish I could play major league games with this team for one season.
You want to know the color of my underwear, too? ... You guys are starting to ask questions like the Japanese writers used to.
I've seen a lot of great plays in my five years in the majors. And I know we have enough talent on our team to be able to contend.
I sense that MLB is hurting a little bit.
I've never been officially named captain by the manager. But if you look at my experience in baseball, I'm definitely the veteran on the team.
Because I love baseball. That is the No. 1 motivation. What I do is just come here to perform.
To be honest, I never imagined we'd get there. We had a great team, the best. I hope we showed everyone what a great sport baseball is.