Wake Up With Ichrio's Fantastic Throw
As you may have read yesterday, 44-year-old Ichiro is “not retiring” but transitioning to a position in the Mariners Front Office for the rest of the season. So in my mind, he’s retiring. What a stud Ichiro was. Guy was electric and insanely fun to watch when he joined the league in 2001. From the second he stepped on the field, you knew this guy was something special. I remember hearing some great stories of Ichiro hitting absolute bombs in BP, a story about Ken Griffey Jr teaching him the word “bitch”, the guy just seems awesome. If he would have played his entire career in the states, there is no doubt he’d go down as one of the greatest hitters to ever walk the planet, because he is. Always had a HELL of an arm too, as shown above. He would put the ball on a dime from 200 feet away. Ichiro is the best.
Ichiro started playing professionally in 1992 for the Orix BlueWave before leaving for the MLB in 2000. His numbers from his time in Japan were pretty good. A .353 average, had 1,278 hits, hit 118 homers, drove in 529, and stole 199 bases. Oh, you want to know the awards he won over there too? 7 All Star appearances, 3 MVPS, 7 Gold Gloves, and 7 batting titles. Decent career I’d say.
Fast forward to his playing time on American soil and let’s look at his career numbers here. 3,089 hits, 362 doubles, 96 triples, 117 homers, 509 stolen bases, a career .311 batting average, a .355 OBP, and only 1,079 in 18 seasons. He had 10 (!!!!) straight seasons of 200+ hits, including an MLB record in 262 in 161 games played in 2004. Just an absolutely fantastic hitter. He was better against lefties (.329) than he was righties (.304) in his career, and spread the ball all over the field. 876 career hits to right, 824 to left, 710 to center, and 679 infield hits. The infield hits is INSANE. I loved the batting stance too, when he would hit the ball, he was basically out of the box before the ball hit the bat so he was 1/3 of the way to first before the fielder got the ball. First ballot HOFer, absolutely no doubt about that.
He is the best, and always will be. Long live Ichiro!
PS. I know it’s their culture and all that, but Ichiro just having “Ichiro” on the back of his jersey was the dopest thing.