Ichiro Suzuki is somewhat of a Japanese icon and hero as in 2000 when he was bought by the Seattle Mariners from the Orix Blue Wave he became the first person who had been born in Japan to have a starting position in the Major Leagues as an outfielder. This accomplishment for a Japanese player was a major point in proving that those who played in the Japanese leagues could be just as talented as those who played in American leagues.

Part of the credit for Ichuro’s immense talent and drive should go to the fact that when he was only seven years old he joined his first baseball team and immediately wanted to become a beter player. His father, Nobuyuki, began working with him each day by running through a routine which included teaching young Ichuro how to pitch, infield, outfield, and bat. These sessions continued throughout Ichuro’s youth, and although the young player had concentration stenciled on his glove and professional baseball on his mind he began to think of the daily training sessions as tedious.

Once he was accepted into a high school program things began to change a little and Ichuro also changed up his routine some, adding throwing tires and hitting plastic balls with a shovel in order to help bulk up his frame. Since he was only five foot nine and one hundred and twenty five pounds in 1991 when he entered the professional baseball draft many teams did not want to consider him and he wasn’t drafted until the final round despite some impressive numbers put up by Ichuro in school.

In 1992 when he began playing with the Orix he was only eighteen; however, he did not really get to play for almost two years because his manager did not like the way he swung his bat. Ichuro’s swing had been nicknamed the pendulum, and the trademark swing of his leg went against everything that traditionalists believed about batting. He got his break in 1994 when a new manager decided to use him regardless of his swing method and during that year he broke out in a major way, setting a single-season Japanese record with two hundred and ten hits in only one hundred and thirty games. This combined with his powerful .385 batting average helped to get him a Pacific League MVP award. This was the first of an award that would continue for two more years straight.

In 1995 the Orix Blue Wave made it the Pacific League pennant, and in 1996 the team went on to defeat the Central League champions, the Yomiuri Giants in the Japanese equivalent of the World Series. Ichuro never let go of his dream of wanting to play for a baseball team in the United States and even though he was a year away from being released from his contract with the Blue Wave, they allowed him to negotiate with the Major Leagues out of financial stress. Ichuro became the second player from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league to use the posting system as a means of allowing players to transfer between the NPB and MLB. During this time the Seattle Mariners won the right to negotiate with Ichuro and he eventually signed on with a fourteen million dollar contract that lasted for three years. Since then he has continued to play with the Mariners in Major League Baseball.

Once he was in the MLB, Ichuro had to again face the rumors and beliefs that his small frame might be too weak to make it against the professional players in the league. However, during his first season Ichuro proved them all wrong with a rookie record of two hundred and forty two hits and a batting average of .350. The season was extremely successful for the Mariners and Ichuro found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated by the middle of the season. Ichuro’s fan base grew tremendously both in the United States and Japan as people began flying back and forth from Washington to Japan to watch him play.

In 2004 Ichuro had a record breaking season. During this year he actually managed to set records in different categories in the Major Leagues, including the most single-season hits in MLB with an astounding two hundred and sixty two hits. Ichuro has also been an All-Star selection every year that he has played for the Major Leagues from 2001-2008, making it a grand total of eight years in a row. Through Ichuro’s success other Japanese players have been given the chance to come over to the Major Leagues and as such they have made more and more of a splash in the MLB scene in the years preceding his acceptance onto the Seattle Mariners. Hopefully this trend will continue in the upcoming years to provide MLB with a wider breadth of players.