| 14 September 2009
There's a lot of love for Ichiro! going around the internets today, and why not? He's still one of the most fun, exciting, and unique players in baseball, and the fact that he got his 200th hit last night - to become the first person ever with 9 consecutive 200-hit seasons (and from the start of his career, no less!) - is absolutely admirable. I've said it before, but I just can't get enough of the guy, and I'm always happy to see people talking about him.
Since he's big news today, I thought it might be a good idea to do a little more Archive Diving and pull out something I wrote about Ichiro! earlier this year. Looking through the lens of the Historic Hot Stove, it's interesting to see just how uncertain people were about him before he hit the major leagues. Up to that point, after all, there had been no Japanese position players try to make the leap, and no one knew how his skills or his health would hold up:
A spray-hitting lefthanded batter compared with Kenny Lofton and Tony Gwynn, Suzuki has never faced major league pitching during a game with meaning, but there's a good chance he'll be Seattle's opening day leadoff hitter. ... Suzuki will open the season as the man in the spotlight, and if his .352 career average translates well in Seattle, the Mariners offense will have life at the top. Suzuki has never played a season that went beyond 135 games, so he figures to need breaks as the summer winds on."
The best find, though, came from a 1996 article called "The Next Nomo" that predicted that the 22-year old Ichiro, still 5 years away from making the move and only a two-year Japanese league "veteran", could be the next big Japanese import. So, go on over and read "Historic Hot Stove: Ichiro!".
In the meantime, though, enjoy this little video in which Ichiro admits his favorite American expression (and go and read the "more info" section if you're having trouble with his accent - it's hilarious):
