Ichiro Suzuki gets his big moment
New York Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki provided a feel good moment for a team in short supply of them this season when he stroked his 4,000th career hit in Wednesday night’s 4-2 win over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
The combined number adds the Japanese star’s Pacific League (Japan) totals with the 2,722 hits he’s accumulated in his 13-year major league career. That latter total is the most hits by any major league player in his first 13 seasons in the majors.
The amazing thing about Ichiro’s major league career has been how he’s mainly achieved the milestone without a national glare, at least from the American media. The attention he’s received from the contingent of reporters from his native Japan who have trailed him his entire MLB tenure has certainly been ample.
After his 2001 AL rookie of the year and MVP season in which the Mariners won a major-league record 116 games, Ichiro never returned to the postseason until his trade to the Yankees, putting together an incredible .320 career average and consecutive 10-year All-Star run from 2001 to 2010 in the relative national solitude of the Emerald City.
By the time he arrived in New York last season, the veteran became yet another aging big name acquisition brought in to play a supporting role to all of the larger marquee names in the Bronx. While Derek Jeter has fought injury and A-Rod has engaged in however his season can be described, Ichiro has continued to be a model of consistency at 39 years old, appearing in 119 of the team’s 126 games and hitting .274 with 18 stolen bases.
In an era where power hitters get most of the headlines, Ichiro’s unique ability to run out infield singles or slap opposite field hits into locations that it often seems only he could pinpoint, it was great to see his teammates delay last night’s game to give him the showcase he deserves.
Ichiro is signed through the end of next season and hasn’t given any indication about his plans to play beyond that. Hopefully, like his similarly consistent teammate Mariano Rivera, he’ll give everyone enough of a warning so he can get the national sendoff he deserves.