Kevin P. Casey / AP Photo
C’mon, Ichiro’s bat isn’t that hot, at least not this year. Besides, doesn’t he keep his bats in a humidor?
The full ad looks like this. I found it at the awesome It’s a Long Season, along with this…
Both ads were created by Mike Hayward. Lastly, an older bus ad, found here…
Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images
Here I am with some guy who was posing for photos on the Safeco Field concourse at tonight’s game.
There’s also this guy, who has a bunch of YouTube videos…
And this guy, who appears to be a street performer…
Maybe he’s the same guy I met tonight?
At Bats: 4
Runs: 0
Hits, Game/Season: 0/117
Runs Batted In: 0
Walks: 0
Strikeouts: 2
Left on Base: 3
Average: .270
Box
Notes: Two groundouts, a strikeout and a flyout on Sonics Celebration Night… Nice pregame tributes to both the Sonics and Rick Kaminski.
Next: Game 107 vs. Tampa Bay, 1:10 Saturday.
That’s Ichiro hurling balled-up T-shirts into the Key Arena stands at a Seattle SuperSonics game, sometime in the 2000s. Lurking behind him is Sonics mascot Squatch (not the first time Ichiro encountered Bigfoot). And here’s Ichiro courtside with wife Yumiko and Sonics owner/Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz…
I bring this up because tonight at Safeco Field is Sonics Celebration Night, commemorating the NBA franchise that left town for Oklahoma City in 2008: “The Mariners tip their caps to the Seattle SuperSonics during a special pre-game celebration featuring some of your favorite green and gold legends, stars and coaches.”
Ichiro took in at least one other Sonics game with Schultz, versus the Pacers in December 2002…
Jeez, it’s just a basketball game, not a fashion show.
Perhaps Ichiro and Schultz were discussing Starbucks Cards, like this one that appeared in 2005…
I’m not sure how big of a basketball fan Ichiro is, though he certainly is no good at it (at least not in that 1995 TV documentary)…
Still, he got to meet Michael Jordan…
Nice sweater.
Top photo found here.
This week’s card was chosen by Eliza.
May 2, 2009: 2-for-5 in 3-2 loss vs. Oakland.
Standing far above all the crap Mariner promotional giveaways over the decades is this killer Ichiro hydroplane, which, four years ago today, was given out to the game’s first 20,000 fans. Here’s a commercial…
I love how it pairs Ichiro with a cool local sponsor on a toy hydroplane, symbol of the hydro races that have run annually on Seattle’s Lake Washington since 1951. Naturally, Safeco Field’s dot race features animated hydros on the giant scoreboard video screen…
It’s a nice addition to my collection.
Kathy Kmonicek / AP Photo
Jim McIsaac / Getty Images
Here’s an hour-plus, up-close-and-personal doc following a wide-eyed, 22-year-old Ichiro on a visit to America (his first?) in December 1995. It’s broken into ten clips — I can’t find the first one, so we’ll start with the second. After a montage of childhood baseball photos and some Orix-era footage, we see Ichiro visit a California youth baseball camp, where he meets Reggie Smith and Tommy Lasorda (Ichiro’s wearing a too-big Dodgers Starter jacket; what’s that “h” on his cap?)…
Then Ichiro plays catch with and gets fielding tips from a condescending Lasorda. Afterwards, Ichiro takes a sunset horseback ride on a SoCal beach…
This next clip isn’t embeddable (probably because of the Roy Orbison song), so watch it on YouTube, where you can see Ichiro ride in a convertible around Rodeo Drive and Hollywood Boulevard, and then take in the Universal Studios tour. At clip’s end, he enjoys the December 19, 1995 Ducks/Sharks hockey game in Anaheim…
After the game, Ichiro flies to Cincinnati to dine at a Japanese restaurant with the Ken Griffey Jr. It’s the first time Ichiro meets his idol, who he would play with on the Mariners 14 years later. In his Tom & Jerry sweater, Ichiro talks shop with Griffeys Junior and Senior, and they exchange baseball-themed gifts…
Ichiro then travels to Chicago where he chows down on steak at Michael Jordan’s Restaurant, wearing a different (but equally silly) Tom & Jerry sweater…
Ichiro finishes his steak, then shops for Air Jordans at Niketown, where he displays his basketball ineptitude…
Next Ichiro hangs out during practice at the Bulls’ suburban training facility, and carves a turkey at a Christmas house party…
The documentary, likening Jordan’s dominance in American basketball to Ichiro’s dominance in Japanese baseball, builds to a meeting between the two. So, after watching a warmup before the December 22, 1995 Bulls/Raptors game, a nervous, starstruck Ichiro finally meets a cool, detached Jordan for an awkward, translator-assisted conversation…
This next clip isn’t embeddable either (probably because of the awful Billy Joel song), so watch it on YouTube, where you can watch Ichiro watch the Bulls game. Lastly, he goes to New York, where he buys a hot dog from a Times Square street vendor and reflects on his American odyssey…
Thanks to letsgomeiden for posting these clips.
Jim McIsaac / Getty Images
Ichiro illustrates the cover story, How to Eat For Win.
Jim Rogash / Getty Images
Somebody took Ichiro’s head and swapped it with some cartoon princess, found here…
Otherwise, I dunno the story behind the rest of these…
Here’s Photoshopped Ichiro #1.
At Bats: 4
Runs: 0
Hits, Game/Season: 1/110
Runs Batted In: 0
Walks: 1
Strikeouts: 0
Left on Base: 1
Average: .266
Box
Notes: Ground out, flyout, single, walk, popout… Mariners drop 14th straight, tying the ’92 M’s for the franchise record.
Next: Game 101 at Boston, 10:35 a.m. Sunday.
In honor of this weekend’s Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game, here’s Ichiro pitching in the ’96 contest… Actually, the Japanese all-stars apparently play a three-game weekend series — this year’s final game goes down on Sunday at Kleenex Stadium.
Firery ex-fireballer/broadcast analyst Rob Dibble has Ichiro’s name tattooed on his ass. During Ichiro’s rookie season, a skeptical Dibble vowed on ESPN radio that if Ichiro won the batting title, he would get the butt tat and run naked through Times Square. Ichiro went on to lead the the majors with a .350 average in 2001, so “Nasty Boy” Dibble ate crow on a cold, wet night that December. The cops wouldn’t let him run in the altogether, so he wore a Frederick’s of Hollywood thong, with Ichiro’s name in Japanese characters exposed on his left cheek… Does anybody else have an Ichiro tattoo, whether on their hiney or elsewhere?
Read Dibble’s account here.
