Ichiro Suzuki (October 22, 1973-) was the first Japanese position player to play Major League Baseball. He has garnered a number of Major League records and established a number of batting records in his career, including the single-season record for hits (262) set in 2004. The Mariners signed “Ichiro” in 2001 following his nine-year stint with the Orix Blue Wave of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. In his rookie year, he led the American League in batting average (.350) and stolen bases (56) on his way to becoming the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP. He went on to capture a second batting title (2004), in addition to ten All-Star Game appearances (2001-2010), ten Gold Glove Awards (2001-2010), and three Silver Slugger Awards (2001, 2007, 2009). At the 2007 MLB All-Star Game, Suzuki hit the first-ever inside the park home run, which earned him the Most Valuable Player award. On June 19, 2012, Ichiro reached the 2,500 career hit mark against the Arizona Diamondbacks to become the fourth fastest to 2,500 hits behind Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Ty Cobb and George Sisler. Ichiro had ten consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak of any Major League player. In 2012, feeling as though he were taking a starting spot from a younger player in Seattle, Suzuki requested to be traded to the New York Yankees and the club obliged in late-July shipping him to the Bronx for two young pitching prospects and cash. He made an immediate impact as he tied Don Slaught’s record of hitting safely in 12 straight games – Ichiro’s first 12 as a Yankee. He spent three seasons in Yankee pinstripes (2012-2014) before signing with the Miami Marlins (2015-present) prior to the 2015 season. He notched his 3,000th career MLB hit in August 2016, giving him more than 4,300 combined professional hits.
