Ichiro Honored with Statue at Mariners’ Stadium

Seattle, April 10 (Jiji Press)–Japanese baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki, the first Asian inducted into the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame, was honored with a statue unveiled at the Seattle Mariners’ home stadium on Friday. The statue depicts Ichiro in a familiar pose, with his right hand extended to the pitcher’s side. “It is a proof that something of me may remain in people’s minds,” the 52-year-old former player of the Seattle Mariners and other teams in the U.S. Major League Baseball said after the statue’s unveiling ceremony, expressing his emotions. “It allows (me) to be remembered across generations.” His statue is located near the statues of Ken Griffey and Edgar Martinez, both former Mariners and Hall of Famers. Ichiro attended the unveiling ceremony with his wife, Yumiko, and their dog. When the statue was unveiled, the bat portion broke off in an unexpected mishap, and Ichiro pointed at it with a bitter laugh. “I will take it as a good thing, a reminder that there is always something lacking in me,” Ichiro said, also reflecting on the fact that he fell one vote short of a unanimous selection in the Hall of Fame balloting. Ichiro, whose uniform number 51 is retired by the Mariners, said: “You never know what’s going to happen. I actually find that living is quite interesting.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]