N.Y. TIMES
With a slight flick of the wrist, a familiar sight for so many of his hits,
Ichiro Suzuki sent a dancing knuckleball into left field, creating a unique milestone.
Suzuki’s first-inning single against
Toronto Blue Jays starter R. A. Dickey in the
Yankees’
4-2 win Wednesday night gave him a total of 4,000 hits as a professional, 1,278 while playing for the Orix Blue Wave in the Nippon Professional Baseball League and 2,722 — 189 as a Yankee — in the major leagues.
The validity of Suzuki’s mark — only Pete Rose and Ty Cobb have reached 4,000 hits solely in the majors — has been debated, but for his teammates and supporters, the milestone helps cement Suzuki’s status as one of baseball’s greats.
Sportswriter Bruce Jenkins, writing in the
San Francisco Chronicle, described Ichiro's distinctive style of play:
- "There's nobody like Ichiro in either league—now or ever. He exists strictly within his own world, playing a game 100 percent unfamiliar to everyone else. The game has known plenty of 'slap' hitters, but none who sacrifice so much natural ability for the sake of the art... Ichiro, a man of wondrous strength, puts on impressive power-hitting displays almost nightly in batting practice. And he'll go deep occasionally in games, looking very much like someone who could do it again, often... [but] the man lives for hits, little tiny ones, and the glory of standing atop the world in that category. Every spring, scouts or media types write him off, swearing that opposing pitchers have found the key, and they are embarrassingly wrong."[71]
While he is known for his hitting ability, he does not draw many
walks. In 2004, when he set the single-season record for hits, his low walk total (49) led to him being on base a total of 315 times. It was the 58th-most times a player has reached base in a season and short of the major league record of 379 set by
Babe Ruth in 1923.
[72]
Ichiro has a home run batting stroke that he displays in batting practice, but not in games.
[50][72] The New York Times criticized his inability to improve his power when his Mariner teams were often low-scoring while noting that he also did not steal bases as frequently as
Rickey Henderson or
Tim Raines.
[72] Ichiro, however, once commented, "If I'm allowed to hit .220, I could probably hit 40 [home runs], but nobody wants that."
[50]
