SUZUKI ICHIRO

Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗 Suzuki Ichirō^?), usually known simply as Ichiro (イチロー Ichirō^?) (born October 22, 1973) is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport'ssingle-season record for hits with 262. He has had ten consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player, surpassingWee Willie Keeler's streak of eight.^[1] Pete Rose, who had ten non-consecutive 200-hit seasons, is the only player with the same number as Ichiro, who has never had less than 206 hits in any of his 10 full major-league seasons to date.

Ichiro moved to the United States in 2001 after playing nine years for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League. Posted by Orix after the 2000 season, Ichiro became Seattle's right fielder. The first Japanese-born everyday position player in the major leagues,^[2] Ichiro led the AL in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named Rookie of the Year and MVP.

Ichiro is the first MLB player to enter the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (The Golden Players Club). He has been voted onto ten All-Star teams by the fans, winning the 2007 All-Star MVP Award for a three-hit performance that included the event's first-everinside-the-park home run. Ichiro has won a Gold Glove award in each of his first ten years in the major leagues, and has had sixhitting streaks of 20 or more games, with a high of 27.

Ichiro's agent Tony Attanasio described his client's status: "When you mail Ichiro something from the States, you only have to use that name on the address and he gets it [in Japan]. He's that big."^[3]

The most successful of these has been hitter Suzuki Ichiro ,formerly of the Orix Blue Wave, who was drafted by the Year but also Most valuable player of the American League.