Amaury Pi-González throws First Pitch in Seattle during Ichiro years. (Photo from the author)

Ichiro Suzuki First Japanese Inducted into Cooperstown

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

The inevitable just happened. The 2025 Baseball Writers Association of America Hall of Fame ballot was released, and their #1 name for this round is Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki, who had a close two-decade Hall of Fame career in the Major Leagues. Also, C.C. Sabathia, a great pitcher and a local guy from Vallejo, is on the HOF ballot, as is closer Billy Wagner, who ended with 422 games saved, the most in MLB history by a left-handed pitcher. John Franco had 424.

During the years I broadcasted home games for the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants (concurrently), I witnessed the greatness of Ichiro Suzuki, especially during that memorable 2004 season when he ended the season with 262 hits, breaking the all-time Major League single hits record previously held by George Sisler who in 1920 with St Louis Brown had a 257 hit season.

Interviewing Ichiro was one of the most extraordinary things I have experienced. Allen Turner was Ichiro’s first interpreter in 2001; later, others came to do the same job, home and road. Every time I interviewed Ichiro I had to pose the question in English, and the interpreter then would relay it to Ichiro in Japanese; next, the interpreter would tell me what Ichiro said(of course, translated to English), and then OK, the finished part I told the audience in Spanish for Mariners Spanish radio, what the great Ichiro just told me.

Ichiro was a distinctive, timid person who worked as hard as anybody. He stored his bats inside a particular case, like the bat(s) were Stradivarius violins. Down on the field, my broadcast partner, the late Julio Cruz, Mariner’s Dream Team Second baseman, Julio and I would stand behind the batting cage a couple of hours or so before the games at Safeco Field (the original name of the tremendous retractable stadium in downtown Seattle Ichiro would hit home runs at will, and when he took a break in between swings inside the cage, he would do some gymnastic moves. It was truly a feat to see a guy listed at 5’11, who looked like 5’7 and around 165 pounds, hit the ball as hard and many times as deep.

Ichiro Suzuki played from 2001 to 2019, a total of 19 years. It began with the Mariners in 2001 and retired with the Mariners in 2019; in between, also playing for the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. A solid Hall of Fame career. It ended with a .311 batting average, 3,089 hits, 509 stolen bases, 117 homeruns, and 780 runs batted in.

His first name was Ichiro, and that was enough. Only one other Mariners Hall of Fame player had that distinction: Ken Griffey Jr. “Junior was enough, “and everybody knew, just like Ichiro, who it was. For me, the best lead-off hitters of all time that I have known, interviewed, and covered are Rickey Henderson and Ichiro Suzuki. One is in the Hall of Fame, and the other one soon will be joining Rickey.

QUOTE: Ichiro appeared in 10 All-Star Games. I once asked him about playing in the All-Star Game and if he could tell me something about playing during those fun games. He surprised me with one word in Spanish; he told me it was “peligroso” translation=dangerous. You asked, why dangerous? Well, in one of his 10 All-Star Game appearances, the network that carried the game got his permission to insert a small microphone in his uniform so he could say something while he was on the field during the game. He did it reluctantly; he didn’t feel comfortable doing that. In the end (like I mentioned before), he was timid, reserved, and, in many ways a mysterious player.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com