COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Should it be any surprise that the man known for his endless dedication to craft, the man who stared down and conquered one of the most pressure-filled debut seasons in MLB history, the man who constantly challenged himself with seemingly impossible goals, would absolutely nail his Hall of Fame speech — entirely in his second language, no less?
As someone who watched Ichiro deliver an eloquent and heartfelt speech in English when he entered the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2022, his equally eloquent and heartfelt speech in Cooperstown on an ominous thunder-cloudy Sunday was indeed not a surprise. Nor was it a surprise that being in the place he called “a sacred baseball land” would bring out his best oratory.
But what elevated this gracious address, and thoroughly enchanted the Ich-i-ro chanting faithful that braved the elements at the Clark Sports Center — the start of the ceremony was delayed an hour to let the storm pass — were the humorous asides he sprinkled throughout the 19-minute speech. Such as his message to the lone dissenting voter in the Baseball Writers Association of America that kept Ichiro from joining Mariano Rivera as the only unanimous electee. Ichiro had once invited the writer to dinner to discuss his omission, but he said with a smile on Sunday: “By the way, the offer for that writer to have dinner at my home has now expired.”
I particularly enjoyed Ichiro’s pitch-perfect imitation of broadcaster Rick Rizzs calling one of the outfielder’s patented bullet throws from the outfield, delivered at full volume: “Holy smokes, a laser beam to second base from Ichiro!”
Ichiro had just noted that he annually came to camp with his arm already in shape so that he could provide Rizzs the opportunities for those thunderous calls. And that highlighted a main theme of Ichiro’s speech, the last one among the five honorees: How one could not honor the sport and respect the game, and its fans, without complete dedication to one’s preparation.
“When fans use their precious time to come watch you play, you have a responsibility to perform for them, whether we are winning by 10 or losing by 10,’’ he said. “I felt my duty was to motivate the same from opening day through game 162. I never started packing my equipment or taping boxes until after the season’s final out. I felt it was my professional duty to give fans my complete attention each and every game.”
During his career, I got a firsthand daily view of the painstaking way Ichiro tended to his glove, his bat, his spikes and every other accoutrement of the game. Sometimes his teammates would look askance as he retied his glove, placed the bat in a humidor, or cleaned his spikes of the last speck. But there was always a method to his meticulousness.
“I personally cared for my equipment each day because I never wanted to risk a feeling of error due to a loose string on my glove or slip on the base paths because I didn’t clean my spike,’’ he said.
Ichiro noted at the start that he was once again a rookie for the third time in his career: First with the Orix BlueWave in 1992, then with the Mariners in 2001, and now a rookie among the Hall of Famers who sat on the stage behind him.
“I hope I can uphold the values of the Hall of Fame,” he said solemnly, but then playfully referred to a rookie ritual with the Mariners: “Please, I am 51 years old now, so easy on the hazing. I don’t need to wear a Hooters uniform again.”
Ichiro was expansive in expressing gratitude to the teammates and organizations of his 19-year MLB career. His most touching tribute was to pitcher Hideo Nomo, whose success as a major leaguer from Japan heavily influenced a young Ichiro.
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ichiro’s hall of fame induction
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“My eyes suddenly opened to the idea of challenging myself by going somewhere I never imagined,’’ he said, thanking “Nomo-san” in Japanese.
That journey began, of course, in Seattle in his magical MVP season of 2001, “and I have been in love with Seattle and the Mariners ever since. … Seattle is my permanent home.”
It included a three-year stop in Miami with the Marlins starting in 2015, prompting another Ichiro quip: “I appreciate (Marlins executives) David Sampson and Mike Hill for coming today. Honestly, when you guys called to offer me a contract for 2015, I had never heard of your team. But I came to love my time in South Florida.”
The most poignant moment of the speech came when Ichiro saluted his wife, Yumiko, for steering him through the stress of his rookie MVP season.
“I think you can imagine there was much doubt when I decided to try becoming the first position player from Japan in MLB,’’ he said. “But it was more than just doubt. There was criticism and negativity. Someone even said to me, ‘Don’t embarrass the nation.’ The person who supported me the most was my wife, Yumiko. It would only be natural if she had doubts too, but she never made me feel them. All of her energy was focused on supporting and encouraging me. For 19 seasons in Seattle, New York and Miami, she made sure that our home was always happy and positive. I tried to be consistent as a player, but she’s the most consistent teammate I ever had.”
Ichiro recounted a “date night” he and Yumiko had at T-Mobile Park shortly after his retirement in 2019.
“We did something we had never been able to do while I was a player: We sat in the stands and enjoyed a Mariners game together. We did it the American way by eating hot dogs. Of all the experiences baseball has given me, enjoying a hot dog at a game with a person most responsible for helping me reach this moment is the most special.”
No doubt attaining the Hall of Fame — an institution he said he had never even heard of until coming to Seattle — goes high on that list as well. And Ichiro did so with a speech that showed a playful, witty and charming side that many in America rarely got to see because of his careerlong insistence on doing all his interviews in Japanese with a translator. But he said afterward in a brief news conference that he always planned on doing his induction speech in English.
“I said (in his speech) that being a Hall of Famer was not a goal,’’ he said afterward. “But making people laugh here was always a goal. Hopefully, I succeeded.”
For Ichiro, the day was a complete success — and his third rookie season figures to launch a new phase of life as bountiful as his first two.
Larry Stone: lstone@seattletimes.com. Longtime columnist Larry Stone, a three-time winner of the Washington Sportswriter of the Year Award, retired from The Seattle Times in 2023. He is a past president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and co-authored the autobiography of Mariners Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez.