Ichiro expresses gratitude entering Mariners Hall of Fame
SEATTLE (AP) — Ichiro Suzuki was inducted into the Seattle Mariners Corridor of Fame on Saturday evening, giving his total 16-minute speech in English whereas reflecting on his profession.
Suzuki grew to become the tenth member of Seattle’s Corridor of Fame, becoming a member of former teammates Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jamie Moyer, Jay Buhner and Dan Wilson who had beforehand been honored by the membership. All however Buhner have been in attendance.
Suzuki’s speech was one of many few instances he’s spoken extensively in English in a public discussion board. The ceremony additionally included video messages from a number of baseball stars together with Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Baseball Corridor of Fame president Josh Rawitch was additionally in attendance. Suzuki will likely be eligible for induction into Cooperstown in 2025.
Griffey and Suzuki sat subsequent to one another throughout the ceremony. The pair have been teammates in Seattle throughout the 2009-10 seasons.
“There’s a man I prefer to name George. him as Ken Griffey Jr. He was my idol even earlier than I got here to America, however in 2009 he returned to Seattle and I lastly received to be his teammate,” Suzuki mentioned. “Sure, he’s a jokester. However for me, he’s additionally a real skilled. He helped me in additional methods than I can categorical. Being his teammate is really one in all my profession highlights.”
Suzuki spent the primary 11 seasons of his main league profession with the Mariners earlier than getting traded to the New York Yankees halfway via the 2012 season. Suzuki performed elements of three seasons with the Yankees, three extra in Miami earlier than returning to Seattle to shut out his profession.
His remaining look got here in the beginning of the 2019 season which Seattle opened with two video games in Japan. Suzuki introduced his retirement after the second recreation. He’s spent the previous a number of years as a particular assistant to the chairman for the Mariners and frequently is in uniform and dealing with gamers or fielding balls throughout batting follow.
“I used to be 27 years outdated after I got here to Seattle. I might by no means think about my profession in America would final 19 seasons and that I might nonetheless be in Seattle right this moment,” Suzuki mentioned. “With that in thoughts, I want to say to the present gamers your future has potentialities that you simply can not think about as properly. So embrace it by giving your finest with out imposing limits on your self.
“If a thin, undersized man from Japan can compete on this uniform, after which stand earlier than you tonight to simply accept this honor. Then there’s no motive you can not do it both.”
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Extra AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Tim Sales space, The Related Press
