Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki will become the first Asian member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame during Sunday’s induction.
July 26 Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki officially will become the first Asian member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame during Sunday’s induction ceremony.
Suzuki, 51, is a Japanese citizen who joined the MLB ranks in 2001 and played most of his 19-year Major League Baseball career with the Seattle Mariners.
He also played shorter stints with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins.
Before becoming an MLB rookie with the Mariners at age 27, Suzuki logged seven seasons in Japan.
« I knew that I would be judged, and Japan baseball would be judged on how I did », Suzuki had told NBC News.
« If I wasn’t able to produce, then they would judge Japan baseball as being at the lower level », he said. « And so that pressure was there, and that’s what I had to carry.
