Talk:Ichiro Suzuki
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[edit] Is this true?
Continuing the custom he began in Japan, he uses his given name on the back of his uniform, becoming the first and so far only player in Major League Baseball to do so.
Is that true? I'm sure I've seen it before. I have no idea why I would remember this, but I'm almost certain Vida Blue had his first name on his jersey. Adam Bishop 17:38, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)
- My understanding of this was that he is a pitchman for Nissan in Japan, and since Suzuki is a competitor of Nissan, he decided to play under his given name only. John
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- No, it was because of the number of Suzukis on his NPB team. Suzuki is as common a surname in Japan as Brown or Jones is here.
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- I know he's the only player whom MLB has approved using his first name. It's possible Vida wore his first name (as a Charlie Finley stunt), but I don't think it was for very long. I know Finley tried to get Blue to change his first name to True.
Wnalyd 05:40, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
This article lists a number of players, including Blue, who have had their first name, nickname, hometown, etc. on their back. (The corpulent John Kruk used to say he had his picture on his back; he was number 8.)
Can we document the MLB approval for "Ichiro"? Rdikeman 13:09, Oct 12, 2004 (UTC)
Vida Blue had his firt name on is back when playing for the Giants
Deleted some redundant words for clarity
[edit] Ichiro
I don't know a lot about baseball, but is it really a good idea to make "Ichiro" redirect here? A simple search for the word would reveal that it is not a particularly rare Japanese male given name (Ichirō Hatoyama, for example)...elvenscout742 13:49, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
- I've turned the redirect into a disambiguation page. —Lowellian (reply) 04:40, August 31, 2005 (UTC)
The childhood section seems ridiculous. Is there any significance to it?
- I can see how; it explains his rigorous practice schedule and how he got to be the ballplayer he is. 69.4.200.122 00:18, 27 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Poor grammar and not completely unbiased
"Because of the incorrect interpretation ("I want to beat South Korea so badly, that the South Koreans won't want to play Japan for another 30 years." [1]), the Korean media criticized Ichiro for reportedly saying before the tournament."
This sentance(s) really needs some grammar and syntax work. Also the citation (and other sources) offer no support for the claim that the statement was interpreted incorrectly. I have rephrased the statement to give it a more neutral POV and to reflect the citation better.
Kyobonitsuki 09:40, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
It was an incorrect interpretation. ESPN did a terrible job with translations. If you've seen the video he's joking about things with his tongue in cheek.
「戦った相手が『向こう３０年は日本に手は出せないな』という感じで勝ちたいと思う」
Roughly it translates to...
"I would like to win in ways to make our opponents think, 'we got 30 years before we catch up to Japan'."
And he said that while laughing.
[edit] Ichiro's alleged hitting problems in 2006
I removed the whole section:
==2006 Hitting Problems== After starting the season 1-5 (.200), Ichiro rebounded and was batting .353 after the first 4 games of the season. However, Ichiro struggled and was batting .177 by April 18th. He finished April with a .287 average. His average dipped to .260 on May 5th, but two 4 hit games in May and 1 in April brought his average up to .327 by May 28th. It has turned out (by May 28th) to be an up and down season for Ichiro.
The problem with this is that having a section gives the idea that there is something particularly bad about this season; however, if you look at his stats (which typically go up and down as a season progresses anyway), he is actually doing pretty well, and well en-route to finishing with stats just as good as his rookie year and certainly 2005. Currently his .335 BA is 5th in the AL, and his OBP is also good.
The section also contains and encourages speculation. After the season is over and we reflect on his year, it may turn out that his performance was his worst so far, in which case we can make a note of it, but certainly not an entire section unless he turns out to really stink the rest of the year. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 12:48, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
- I agree with this. No need to guess at history before it unfolds. Saw another Ichiro record on ESPN.com today (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6615) where it reads "Player News from ROTOWIRE --
Jul. 26 -- News: Suzuki recorded his 1,275th career hit Tuesday, the most hits in any six-year period of anyone in major league history." This is not one of his most notable records, maybe it deserves inclusion?
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- I saw an article in the Seattle PI on that and Ichiro commented that breaking Wade Boggs record (prior record holder for most hits in six consecutive years in MLB) "is a very big deal"[1]. Now, of course, baseball is infamous for many meaningless records, but this one made the news and Ichiro, who is not in the habit of exaggerating his accomplishments, considers it important. So I think it should be ok to include. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 21:13, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Right field or center field?
Which is it? The opening paragraph says center field but the box at the right says right field. I didn't realize he switched from right to center late in the season. Is that a permanent move?
- He switched so Snelling could play right field. It appears that Ichiro is ok with playing center next year and Hargrove wants it too [2]. But who knows? It will depend on what the team will look like. I would say it's safe to say center for now, but I wouldn't say it's really official until next year. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 18:29, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
- I've switch the info in the infobox and categories from "right fielder" to "center fielder" as for a while now, all the articles I read about Mariners has him mentioned as playing center for the coming season. Also, the roster moves and acquisitions pretty much cement this. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 22:53, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
Another person has changed it back to right fielder twice. This is ridiculous. Anybody that actually follows the Mariners would know he is the center fielder. Any sports article nowadays that mentions Ichiro's position describes him as center fielder, for example, [3] [4]. Jose Guillen is the right fielder now. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 16:30, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
I'll stop with one more ref [5]. This one has several paragraphs talking about Ibanez and Guillen having to adjust to Ichiro in center field. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 09:42, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
Well, I guess I can't stop as an anonymous editor insists on changing the position again to RF. This time s/he cites Ichiro's ESPN profile as evidence. Obviously, to anybody that has read anything I wrote above, the clear conclusion is that the profile is outdated. Nonetheless, in the hope that the anon actually is reading the talk page, let me point out that the Seattle Mariners official MLB site has Ichiro listed as CF in his profile. The evidence is clear; one outdated ESPN profile cannot change that. Additionally, given the lack of discussion, I am going to revert all such changes, as continuing to change valid information without discussion can only be regarded as an effort to compromise Wikipedia, i.e. vandalism. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 18:58, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Ichiro's personal scandals
The Whiting book also documents the scandal reported widely in the Japanese press (but almost completely ignored in the U.S.) of Ichiro being secretly recorded "cavorting" with a woman-other-than-his-wife in a hotel room in San Francisco several years ago. It was a major story in Japan and was reportedly a major factor in why Ichiro's relationship with the media, especially the Japanese media, isn't so harmonious. Shouldn't mention of this be in the article? Cla68 02:02, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
- Probably. But there isn't much about his personal life, so it's possible that this one incident could be given undue weight. I would suggest writing more about him first, before mentioning any such scandals. --Chan-Ho (Talk) 19:13, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
- The incident was very widely reported on in Japan, and has significantly affected Ichiro's relationship with the media, which, in turn, affects his public image, which is significant because he's a celebrity. If I get ahold of the Whiting book that talks about it, I may add a mention of it to the article while keeping in mind the undue weight rule. Cla68 03:25, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
