Monday, Oct. 04, 2004

Ichiro Suzuki

By Jim Frederick

Shortly before noon on Oct. 2, Tokyo TV broadcaster TBS interrupted its popular weekend entertainment-roundup show King's Brunch to bring Japan the images it had been anticipating for weeks. Half a world away, on a full-count pitch, Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki threaded a bouncing ground ball up the middle against Texas Rangers pitcher Ryan Drese to land safely on first base.

Ordinarily, Ichiro's second on-base of the evening—an otherwise undistinguished squeaker of a hit—would not have made that night's news-highlight reel, let alone become a program-pre-empting event. But this hit, Ichiro's 258th of the season, was lustily cheered around the world because it broke Hall of Famer George Sisler's 84-year-old record for the most hits in a single season. "The man is a genius," says Kunihiko Matsuo, a 52-year-old building-management-company executive in Osaka. "Players like Ichiro prove that you can rise to the top even as an outsider."

For a man called the Wizard by his teammates for his awesome offensive prowess, this was by far the biggest milestone in a career already studded with superlatives. The 30-year-old with the wispy goatee and cockeyed grin arrived in the U.S. in 2001 after nine seasons with Japan's Kobe-based Orix BlueWave. He was initially greeted with skepticism because of his slight stature and idiosyncratic personality (he is the only player in the majors to wear his given name on his jersey, and he often watches TV with his sunglasses on). But he immediately silenced all doubters with his fireworks on the field, becoming 2001's Rookie of the Year, the American League's batting champion and its Most Valuable Player—a rare Triple Crown. An All-Star in every season since arriving in the U.S., Suzuki earlier this year became the first player to post at least 200 hits in each of his first four major league seasons. His 222 singles so far this year are also a major league single-season record. But with the speed to run down fly balls in the next county, not to mention the arm to pick off runners from the warning track, he's also a formidable defensive weapon who won three Gold Gloves in his first three seasons.

For Japan, Ichiro has long been a national inspiration, the best example yet that its baseball players (and, by extension, all its athletes) can not only compete with the world's best but triumph. It's why TIME first chose him to be an Asian hero in 2002.

Now, with the slugger's most-recent record-breaking performance, his legend can only grow. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi alluded to the rising sentiment on both sides of the Pacific that Ichiro might not just be a Hall of Famer in the making but one of the best ever. "There probably won't be a greater athlete than him for a long time," said Koizumi, an avid baseball fan. "You cannot praise him enough."