Athletes - Ichiro Suzuki

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	Athletes - Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木一朗, Suzuki Ichirō, イチロー, born October 22, 1973 in Toyoyama, Nishikasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is the right fielder for the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team. He moved to the United States in 2001 after playing for seven years for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League. When the Blue Wave granted his release after the 2000 season, Ichiro signed a contract with the Mariners. He became the first Japanese-born everyday position player in the Major Leagues.

2004 was his most impressive (offensive) season yet, as he set several MLB records, including a new all-time, single-season Major League record with 262 hits.

Childhood preparation

At age seven, Ichiro joined his first baseball team and asked his father, Nobuyuki Suzuki (鈴木宣之 Suzuki Nobuyuki), to teach him to be a better player. The two began a daily routine which included:

throwing 50 pitches
hitting 200 pitches from Nobuyuki
fielding 50 infield balls and 50 outfield balls, and
hitting 250-300 pitches from a machine.

As a Little Leaguer, Ichiro had the word shūchū (集中 — "concentration") written on his glove. By age 12, he had set professional baseball as his goal and, while he apparently shared his father's vision, he did not enjoy their training sessions. Nobuyuki 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 series that told of a young boy's difficult road to success as a professional baseball player, with rigorous training demanded by the father. According to Ichiro, "It bordered on hazing and I suffered a lot."

When Ichiro joined his junior high school baseball team, his father told the coach, "No matter how good Ichiro is, don't ever praise him. We have to make him spiritually strong." When he was ready to enter high school, Ichiro was selected by a school with a prestigious baseball program, Nagoya's Aikodai Meiden Kōkō, where, unlike as a professional, Ichiro was primarily a pitcher instead of an outfielder, owing to his exceptionally strong arm. Among the strength drills he performed in training there were hurling car tires and hitting wiffleballs with a heavy shovel. These exercises helped develop his wrists and hips, adding power and endurance to his thin frame. Yet, despite the production of outstanding numbers in high school, Ichiro was not drafted until the fourth and final round of the professional draft in November 1991 because many teams were put off by his small size, 5'9", 120 pounds (54 kg). (Whiting, 2004, pp. 2-12)

Career in Japan

Ichiro made his Pacific League debut in 1992 at the age of 18, but he spent most of his first two seasons with a farm team due to his manager's refusal to accept Ichiro's unorthodox swing. The swing, nicknamed 'pendulum', due to the pendulum-like motion of his leg, shifting the weight forward as he swung the bat, was considered to go against conventional baseball wisdom, which insisted that the weight must remain on the rear leg in order to hit the ball effectively. Thus, even though he hit a homerun off Hideo Nomo, who later won the rookie of the year in MLB as a Dodger, in the second season, he was sent back to the farm on that very day. In 1994 he benefited from the arrival of a new manager who put him in the second spot of the lineup, which eventually changed to the leadoff spot, for the Blue Wave and allowed him to hit any way he wanted. He responded by setting a Japanese single-season record with 210 hits in 130 games for a then-Pacific League record .385 batting average and won the first of a record seven consecutive batting titles. He also hit 13 home runs and had 29 stolen bases, helping him to earn his first of three straight Pacific League MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards.

It was during the 1994 season that he began to use "Ichiro" instead of "Suzuki" on his uniform. Suzuki is the second most common surname in Japan, and his manager introduced the idea as a publicity stunt to help create a new image for what had been a relatively weak team, as well as a way to distinguish their rising star. Initially, Ichiro disliked and was embarrassed by the practice, but by the end of the season "Ichiro" was a household word and he was being flooded with endorsement offers.

In 1995 Ichiro led the Blue Wave to their first Pacific League pennant in 12 years. In addition to his second batting title, he led the league with 80 RBI (runs batted in), hit 25 home runs, and stole 49 bases. By this time, the Japanese press had begun calling him the "Human Batting Machine." The following year, with Ichiro winning his third straight MVP award, the team defeated the Central League champion, Yomiuri Giants, in the Japan Series. Following the 1996 season, playing in an exhibition series against a visiting team of Major League All-Stars kindled Ichiro's desire to travel to the United States to play in the Major Leagues.

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Athletes - Ichiro Suzuki

Childhood preparation

Career in Japan

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