Note: I am pleased to present here the fourth and concluding installment of the series I have written in acknowledgement of the magnificent career of Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, who retired from baseball last week after a 28 year career in professional baseball (9 seasons in Japan and 19 in the Major Leagues in the United States). Easily the greatest Japanese player ever to play in the Majors, Ichiro leaves the game with a bevy of accomplishments to his credit, including the Major League record for hits in a season with 262, set in 2004 and chronicled in this series. To get the most from this series the installments should be read in sequence, and all are available in this blog. With all that understood, here is “In Honor of Ichiro-Part IV.” Please read on…MA

In Honor of Ichiro-Part IV and Epilog

Ichiro accumulated 56 hits in the month of August; an astounding figure. It was his third 50 hit month of the season and sent baseball stat nerds scurrying to see if anyone else had ever done it. It looked like no one had. Going in to the month of September he was sitting at 211 hits, and needed 47 more to break the record, something he was completely capable of. On September 4^th, against the White Sox, he had another 5 hit game, and it looked for all the world like Sisler’s record would fall easily. But then Ichiro’s pace began to fall off. Across the next two weeks he got only 12 more hits.  Could the pressure of the chase finally be getting to him? I began to wonder if he would make it.

I needn’t have. The Mariners went into their final road trip of the 2004 season with Ichiro needing 23 hits to break the record. After the first weekend of the trip he removed all doubt about whether he was up to the task. On September 20^th against the Angels he got two hits. The next night he got 5 more and then on Sunday 4 more. 11 hits in three games! It was just a matter of time now; I knew he would do it.

When the M’s returned to Safeco Field to play the last 3 games of the season against Texas, Ichiro needed just one hit to tie the record, and two to break it. His first “at bat” of the series he tied the record with a single over third base. His next AB he broke the record with a single up the middle. Dave Niehaus went bonkers all over again. The game was stopped for 15 minutes while the fans cheered. Ichiro tipped his cap to them, and then walked to the stands to visit with George Sisler’s surviving family. They had traveled from all over to be in Seattle to witness the record-breaking hit. Among them was Sisler’s daughter, who was now in her ‘80s. Visiting with her first, and warmly shaking her hand, it was almost as if Ichiro was renewing an old acquaintance. He shook hands with the other family members, and then, looking back at Sisler’s daughter again, gave a slight bow of respect and returned to the field.

He had a baseball game to finish.

Epilog

It’s easy to see why baseball fans will so often hang their hats on fate. They’ve seen too many seeing-eye singles with the bases loaded. For sure, when it comes to baseball, it often seems there are higher powers at work. What other explanation is there for the unbelievable events that routinely occur on the baseball field? Despite the inclination to agree with this, I choose to look at fate as the combination of many things; the mistake of the pitcher; the years of preparation the hitter has put in to get to the point where he can predictably hit behind the runner; the diabolical dimensions of the baseball field; all combine to make it seem that some overriding power is at work; some mystical force, and the human mind cannot plumb it. So it seems. I don’t think it’s true.

Still, how else to explain Ichiro’s amazing run at the Major League single season hit record during that otherwise lost 2004 Seattle Mariners season? There was no great hitter in the Mariners line up hitting behind him, protecting him, and forcing the pitcher into throwing him strikes. So many balls had to be hit just an inch or two to the right or left to elude a diving infielder or outfielder; so many Ichiro swings had to make just the right amount of contact; so many infield hits had to be beaten out; so many things had to go just right. Had any of these points faltered much during the long season, Ichiro could not have broken the record.

But, he did break the record; and if there was a higher power involved, I believe that power was Ichiro, himself. He determined that he would break that hit record—and then he went out and did it. The power of decision is actually the power of prediction; and if you think about it you’ll realize, it’s an ability we all have, and use every day. With Ichiro and his hit record, as with all great accomplishments, perhaps the stage was grander; perhaps the skill required higher; but the basic principle is the same; limited only by a person’s willingness to get in there and play, and the magnitude of the game he chooses.

Looked at in this way, what Ichiro did in breaking George Sisler’s single season hit record should be a reminder to each of us, that we, too, have the potential for greatness residing within–if we would only realize it.

The End

Copyright © 2019

By Mark Arnold

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