Miami Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki triples in the seventh inning to notch his 3,000th career hit at Coors Field in Denver on August 7, 2016, to become the 30th player in Major League Baseball history to record 3,000 hits. File Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI | License Photo
Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki officially will become the first Asian member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame during Sunday’s induction ceremony.
Suzuki, 51, is a Japanese citizen who joined the MLB ranks in 2001 and played most of his 19-year Major League Baseball career with the Seattle Mariners.
He also played shorter stints with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins.
Before becoming an MLB rookie with the Mariners at age 27, Suzuki logged seven seasons in Japan.
“I knew that I would be judged, and Japan baseball would be judged on how I did,” Suzuki had told NBC News.
“If I wasn’t able to produce, then they would judge Japan baseball as being at the lower level,” he said. “And so that pressure was there, and that’s what I had to carry.”
His success was immediate.
Suzuki became only the second MLB rookie to be named a league Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player during the same season, which Boston Red Sox slugger Fred Lynn first accomplished in 1975.
Suzuki led the American League with a .350 batting average, 22 hits and 56 stolen bases during his award-winning rookie season.
He posted a career batting average of .311, with 3,089 hits, 117 home runs, 780 runs batted in and 509 stolen bases while playing mostly right field.
Suzuki won 10 Gold Glove awards, three Silver Slugger awards and was named to the All-Star team 10 times.
Suzuki was the first Japanese position player to join the MLB and was one vote short of being a unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame.
Former pitchers Masanori Murakami of the San Francisco Giants and Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers preceded Suzuki as the first Japanese players in MLB history.
Suzuki continues working for the Mariners as a special assistant to the club’s chairman and helps young players improve their games.
“Guys that have his career and caliber don’t have to do stuff like that,” Mariners All-Star pitcher Bryan Woo, who is of Chinese descent, told NBC News.
“People that do that go out of their way,” Woo said. “That means a lot.”
Suzuki also inspired other Asian players to pursue their MLB dreams.
“He was a player who looked like me: Left-handed [and] played the outfield,” Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan said.
“It kind of gave me hope at a really young age to see someone who looks like me, plays like me [and] is able to succeed at the highest level.”
Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. EDT at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Former pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner also will be inducted.
So will former sluggers Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who will be inducted posthumously after being elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee.
