For baseball fans across the country, the enthronement of the Ichiro Suzuki voltiseur at the renowned temple of baseball this weekend is the cornerstone of a beaten record career. But for players of Asian origin, it is also a deep moment of recognition and visibility.
Suzuki, who spent the majority of his 19 years in the Major Baseball League with Seattle Mariners, will be the first Asian player to be added to the Historical Salle of Cooperstown, New York. The Americans of Asian and Asian origin through the League spoke to NBC News, reflecting on their favorite moments of Suzuki and how its performance on the field helped to inaugurate a generation of players who sought to follow its traces.
“He was a player who looked like me: the left, played the outside field,” said Cleveland Guardians Steven Kwan, who is of Japanese and Chinese origin. “It sort of gave me hope to a very young age to see that someone who looks like me, plays like me, is able to succeed at the highest level and, not only that, to gain respect for everyone in the League too.”
Suzuki joins the launcher CC Sabathia and the emergency launcher Billy Wagner as part of the 2025 class which will be inducted on Sunday. The other inducted enthusiasts include the late defender Dave Parker and the first goal player Dick Allen, who died in 2020.
Suzuki, who missed a unanimous selection by a single vote, began his American career in 2001 as the first Japanese position to join MLB. Although he was not the first Japan player to join the big leagues – Masanori Murakami launcher played a short stay with the San Francisco Giants in 1964, and the Los Angeles Dodgers launcher, Hideo Nomo, had a 13 -year career in the United States – Suzuki was by far the most successful.
During his almost two decades in the league, Suzuki made a name for himself as an elite contact striker and a defensive genius who was also known for the ham for those who played with him and serve an impeccable style. His career includes 10 All-Star selections, 10 Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards. His time in MLB has contributed to more Japanese players exploring careers in the United States
Kwan, twice all-star and triple winner of the golden gloves in its own right, said in growing, it was essential for him to see a player who has never hidden his Japanese heritage, has always embraced his history and took the ground as simply. Suzuki’s Qi of baseball also made a lasting impression on the guardians outflower. When Suzuki was on the Miami marlins in 2015, he simulated Joaquin Arias of the Giants of San Francisco, preventing the Arias from scoring a double on the wall of the right field.
“He was towards the end of his career. … And even at his age younger, he always had the IQ of baseball to give the impression that he was going to catch the ball, to keep the ball away from the wall proper,” said Kwan. “I just remember that at the end of his career, he still had an impact. It was special for me. “
Arizona Diamondbacks, Corbin Carroll, said that as a American from Asian origin who had grown up in Seattle and frequently attended the Mariners matches, he was also impressed by Suzuki. Carroll, who is of Taiwanese origin, said that he still remembers sitting in the stands of the right field with his family while his mother took a photo of Suzuki hitting his signature.
“This is one of my first memories. The photo I kept in my room when I grew up and still had to date,” said Carroll.
Carroll, who, in 2023, became the first recruit of an American Asian MLB of the year, said that all these years watching the Japanese pioneer “made me feel that one day I could do it and play at this level,” he said.
“When children grow up to see someone they can apply in one way or another, it can inspire them and give them the hope of doing something big,” said Carroll, twice all-star.
Suzuki has already told NBC News That he did not start to “play for Asians” but was more than aware that his performance would have an impact on the group in addition to his country of origin, Japan. And he had to excel.
“As a Japan player, as a guy who had led the league by hitting the seven years, then having just been a first position player, I knew I would be judged. And baseball in Japan will be judged on the way I did,” said Suzuki. “If I couldn’t produce, then they would judge Japan baseball as a lower level. And so this pressure was there and that’s what I had to wear.”
Bryan Woo, a star launcher for the navy, admitted that as a player of Chinese origin from Oakland, California, he was perhaps not the biggest fan of Seattle as a growing, but he was a fan of Suzuki. Woo said he was particularly struck by Suzuki’s performance during the 2007 star match in San Francisco, during which he hit a home run inside the park. Suzuki, who was crowned MVP of this match, went 3 for 3 that night. And his dinger remains the only Home Run inside the park never struck in a star match.
Woo said that these days, Suzuki, who is still working for the Mariners as a special assistant of the president, continues to provide his wisdom, ensuring that progress does not stop with his own player career.
“Guys who have his career and caliber do not have to do things like that, but the people who do it does everything possible. It means a lot. ” Woo said.
In the end, said Kwan, Suzuki’s place in the fame is symbolic of a new era.
“I think it just shows that a person must open the way for a whole generation to believe that they can play baseball,” said Kwan.
