By the time this story ends, some of you will be angry -- either with me or with Japan or with China. Perhaps with all three of us super-powers.
First, though, I'm going to soften you up with an obvious statement that should raise no angst anywhere:
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| Just because Ichiro doesn't flap his babble-hole doesn't make him less of a star. (US Presswire) |
Now then, on to the more difficult--
Wait ... what? You don't agree with that whole Ichiro-and-Babe thing? Then you've not been paying attention to Ichiro, which is understandable since he plays on the West Coast and speaks so rarely that most of you wouldn't know his voice if he called and introduced himself directly.
You: Hello?
Ichiro: Hi. I'm Ichiro Suzuki.
You: Sure you are. And I'm Harley-Davidson.
You don't have to know his voice to know his skill set. Ichiro is the active leader in career batting average, wins a Gold Glove every year and has one of the strongest outfield arms in baseball. He has won a stolen base title. In the five-tool world of baseball he has the sharpest implements in everything but power -- but only because he prefers to wave his wand rather than swing it like a club.
At this summer's All-Star Game, surrounded by the game's biggest sluggers, American League manager Jim Leyland was shocked by the power of Ichiro: "He hits balls out in batting practice like it's nothing. He probably hit more home runs in BP than any player on the field, and he made it look easy. I can't believe what ease he was hitting balls with over the fence, like it was nothing."
You ask me, baseball hasn't seen a skill set this deep since Babe Ruth was pitching, hitting and slugging his way into the record books from 1914-35.
That skips over a great number of great players, including Barry Bonds, whose medicine cabinet skill set is overflowing. When he was content to play with the body God gave him, Bonds had good power and great speed, a great glove and a decent arm. He was a .300 hitter. He was a Gold Glove left fielder. Bonds was the most versatile player so many of you have ever seen. But only because so many of you have never seen Ichiro.
This is where I get angry with the culture and politics of the Far East, which denied us -- we the American people -- the chance to watch Ichiro's entire career.
