Ichiro Pitches for Oakley

Official site.

Ichiro Pitches for SMBC

That would be the Sumimoto Mitsui Banking Corporation.

Ichiro’s Alien Abductions!

At least three times he’s been swept up into a spaceship to have his mind probed for his thoughts on Nippon Oil, aka Eneos.

This isn’t the first time he’s pitched for Eneos — look.

2013 Spikes Update

This is what he’ll be wearing at home…

And on the road…

He wore these last year…

Ichiro Pitches for Orix — Now on TV

Ichiro played for the Orix BlueWave from 1992 to 2000, then signed an endorsement deal with Orix Bank in 2011. He began appearing in their ads last year, and now he’s the star of the first-ever Orix TV commercials — read this press release for details.

Both spots feature the Yardbirds’ cover of Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man.”

Ichiro Pitches for Morinaga Yogurt

Another Ichiro Kirin Commercial

Ichiro Pitches for Yunker (Again)

Last year I did a post on Ichiro’s ads for Yunker energy drinks, but none of ‘em are as amazing as their new ones. Above is an embeddable behind-the-scenes clip; the actual ads can be seen here.

Weird Ichiro Mystery Ad

This appears to be a print ad for Steinway pianos that I found online awhile back, but I don’t remember exactly where. I’ve never heard of Ichiro playing piano, but I don’t think this is Photoshopped, either. The man on the right looks like some Hugh Downs/Charles Kuralt TV host-type guy who I can’t quite place. Nutty.

Ichiro Pitches for Tongari Corn (Again)

Last year I posted this, but the video has since been removed. So here are a couple other bizarro ’90s commercials for the same product, both featuring a clean-shaven Ichiro and his cohorts beating up on some malevolent corncobs, somehow turning them into the Japanese equivalent of Bugles.

Ichiro Pitches for Flet’s

Flet’s appears to be a subsidiary of NT&T… Be sure to watch the bizarro video in the upper-right corner.

Ichiro Pitches for NTT (Again)

Nice moves. Here are some of his other NTT spots.

Ichiro Pitches for Orix

Last September, Ichiro signed with Orix — not to play baseball, as he did for the Orix BlueWave from 1992 to 2000 — but to endorse their financial services.

Link.

Ichiro Pitches for Pepsi

Brian Setzer wrote and performed the song heard in the above ad. Apart from the lyrics, it’s the same song as Sexy, Sexy, though I’m not sure which one he did first. At the beginning of the below video is a different version of the ad, and Setzer talks a bit about it as well…

And here’s some Pepsi-sponsored “Refresh Project” highlight reel…

This post might also be classified as Ichiro Rock.

Ichiro Pitches for KOMO

Seattle’s KOMO AM-1000 was the flagship station for the Mariners radio network between 2003 and 2008. During that time, Fisher Plaza, which houses KOMO’s studios, had this monster Ichiro image on its windows. It was photographed a lot since it was right across the street from the Space Needle.

Ichiro Pitches for Soup

Didn’t catch the brand.

Ichiro Pitches for NTT

Literally…

Cute kid.

BWT, NTT is Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

Ichiro Pitches for Some Corn-Based Snack Product

From his Orix days.

UPDATE

The product is called Tongari Corn, which is the Japanese brand name for Bugles.

Ichiro Pitches for Nippon Oil

Nippon Oil’s service stations are called Eneos, whose attendants and/or mechanics are apparently called Dr. Drive.

In these two spots (unembeddable), Ichiro appears to enjoy hanging out at gas stations as Dr. Drive helps out pretty girls.

In another, watch as Dr. Drive washes Ichiro’s car.

Finally, on a site called Woopie is an ad with Ichiro sitting on the roof of an Eneos station, though I can’t get it to play.

Ichiro Pitches for Nissan

Flexing his comic muscles in this 1995 commercial…

He lists his favorite sport other than baseball as car racing, though these days he reportedly drives a Porsche.