Historic Video Surfaces of Ichiro Suzuki’s First-Ever Professional Home Run
On Tuesday, Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki is set to earn election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. This comes on the heels of his earning election into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame last week.
When Ichiro is voted in, he will become the third player in history to enter Cooperstown with a Mariners hat on his plaque, joining Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez.
With Ichiro’s induction just a day away, all kinds of great Ichiro highlights are surfacing, including this one of his first-ever professional home run.
Per @GaijinBaseball on “X:”
6/12/1993
At a countryside Kansai Derby game in Nagaoka, Buffaloes ace Hideo Nomo is taking a shutout into the 8th inning
Then a 19 year old kid who came into the game batting around .100 spoiled it by hitting the first homer of his career
His name? Ichiro Suzuki
One of the best all-around players in baseball history, Ichiro spent 28 years as a professional player between the United States and Japan. Over nine seasons, Ichiro hit .353 in Japan, stealing 199 career bases and amassing 1,278 total hits.
He came to the United States in 2001 and promptly took the major leagues by storm, winning the Rookie of the Year and the American League MVP that season. He helped the Mariners win 116 games in that 2001 season, an American League record. They advanced to the ALCS.
He was a two-time batting champion, a 10-time Gold Glover, a 10-time All-Star and a three-time Silver Slugger.
The Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be announced on Tuesday at 3 p.m. PT.
