Ichiro gets 2,500 Hit

[DaaBoTownSox]

PHOENIX -- Ichiro Suzuki wasted little time reaching another milestone after a rare day off.

Suzuki led off the game with his 2,500th career hit and finished 4 for 5 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored and the Seattle Mariners outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-9 in 10 innings on Tuesday night.

"If you look at me now and if you look at me when I first got here in 2001, if I said my first day that my goal is to hit 2,500, on that day people would say that I was crazy," Suzuki said through an interpreter. "Now looking at, things do come true."

Between his nine seasons in the Japanese Pacific League and his 12-plus seasons in Seattle, Ichiro has 3,781 hits, the third most among professional players in either country, trailing only Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.

The milestone came the night after Seattle manager Eric Wedge had given Suzuki his second day off of the season.

"Yesterday was tough for me," Ichiro said. "It was very regrettable because you want to go out there and perform but I understand the skipper's situation. It depends from here on how I will be given the day off."

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=320619129

[RickD]

Really 12 seasons and 2500 hits is pretty impressive. I don't see him getting 3000 though.

Congrats to Ichiro.

[Old Sweater]

Yeah congrats! With his pioneering status he was a sure fire HOF'er with 2000 hits.

I'll say one more thing about Ichiro, he sure plays the game better then he learns a new language, been here a dozen years and still uses an interpreter?

[Mr. Baseball]

I'll say one more thing about Ichiro, he sure plays the game better then he learns a new language, been here a dozen years and still uses an interpreter?

From what I've read, Ichiro actually speaks English quite well. He's afraid of saying something incorrectly and being misinterpreted, so he chooses to use a translator even though it isn't always necessary.

I'd be the same way if I played ball in a foreign country. I know Spanish rather well, but wouldn't want to communicate with the press for fear of saying the wrong thing.

Ichiro has spent nearly eight seasons in the MLB, and still talks through a translator. Perhaps this is a greater issue of class-perception, but 28 percent of the MLB’s players were born in another country, yet they manage to speak to the English-speaking media, no matter how broken their own English is.

However, Ichiro, a well-educated man who came to the United States under much different conditions and through much different means than many Latino players, still totes around a translator.

When Ichiro does talk through his translator, he usually speaks in mangled baseball clichés. However, when he chooses to speak outside the box, it's understandable why he values the buffer zone between his mouth and what the fans and media hear.

Ichiro’s notable quotes have nearly all been quixotic, mysterious, and way out of character—at least the character his translator reveals.

[Old Sweater]

From what I've read, Ichiro actually speaks English quite well. He's afraid of saying something incorrectly and being misinterpreted, so he chooses to use a translator even though it isn't always necessary.

I'd be the same way if I played ball in a foreign country. I know Spanish rather well, but wouldn't want to communicate with the press for fear of saying the wrong thing.

For a few years now I've just treated it as a shun to the English speaking media. Guy has enough interviews to do for the Japanese media.

Ichiro using an interpreter is like my old friends saying 'I don't have my reading glasses' which translates into 'I don't care to look at it' to me. If I wasn't near sighted, I'd use this shun also.