Ichiro from start to finish, part 4

Ichiro Suzuki announced his retirement at a press conference after midnight in Tokyo on Friday, March 22. I have translated the entire press conference from start to finish to give you a sense of how it went down. I hope you enjoy. I have included the original Japanese text. The questions have been mercilessly shortened, however.

He made two curtain calls, once after he left the game at the start of the bottom of the eighth inning, and again after the Mariners’ extra-inning win over the Athletics. What follows is the Japanese and English text of his retirement press conference early on the morning of March 22 in Tokyo.

Ichiro Suzuki tips his cap to fans at Tokyo Dome as he leaves his last big league game. on March 21 ,2019. Photo by Seito Takamizawa

――(長々と説明後に)1年目のゲームから今日を思い出しましたか?

「長い質問に対して大変失礼なんですが、ないですね」

–(After an extremely long buildup) do you have any memories from the games in your first year to today?

“I’m sorry to be rude in answer to such a long question, but no.”

――プロ野球選手になるという夢を叶えて成功してきて、今何を得たと思うか?

「成功かどうかってよく分からないですよね。じゃあどこからが成功で、そうじゃないのかというのは、全く僕には判断できない。成功という言葉がだから僕は嫌いなんですけど……メジャーリーグに挑戦する、どの世界でもそうですね、新しい世界に挑戦するということは大変な勇気だと思うんですけど、でもここはあえて成功と表現しますけど、成功すると思うからやってみたい、それができないと思うから行かないという判断基準では後悔を生むだろうなと思います。やりたいならやってみればいい。できると思うから挑戦するのではなくて、やりたいと思えば挑戦すればいい。そのときにどんな結果が出ようとも後悔はないと思うんです。じゃあ自分なりの成功を勝ち取ったときに、達成感があるのかといったらそれも僕には疑問なので。基本的にはやりたいと思ったことに向かっていきたいですよね。

 で、何を得たか……まぁ、こんなものかなあという感覚ですかねぇ。それは200本もっと打ちたかったし、できると思ったし、1年目にチームは116勝して、その次の2年間も93勝して、勝つのってそんなに難しいことじゃないなってその3年は思っていたんですけど、大変なことです。勝利するのは。この感覚を得たことは大きいかもしれないですね」

–You succeeded in realizing your dream of becoming a pro baseball player. What have you gained?

“I don’t really know if I succeeded or not. Where do you measure it from? Because if you can’t do that, then I’m unable to judge. I dislike that word, “success.” Trying the major leagues, or any other world, I think requires great courage because you are taking on the challenge of a world that’s new for you. In that sense I would use the word “success,” but that’s because you go because you think you’ll succeed. If you don’t go because you think you can’t be successful, I think that will become a source of regret. Basically, I try things because I want to do them. But what have I gained? I guess that’s how I feel about it. I wanted to get about 200 hits, and I thought I could. My first year our team won 116 games, 93 the next two. So in those three years I didn’t think winning was such a difficult thing. It is in fact extremely hard. That realization might be the big thing I took away.”

――毎年神戸に自主トレに行っている。ユニホームを脱ぐことで神戸に何か恩返ししたい思いは?

「神戸は特別な街です、僕にとって。恩返しかー……、恩返しって何することなんですかね。僕は選手として続けることでしかそれができないと考えていたこともあって、できるだけ長く現役を続けたいと思っていたこともあるんですね。神戸に……恩返し……、じゃあ、あの税金を少しでも払えるように頑張ります」

–You do your offseason training in Kobe. Now that you’ve retired do you have some emotion to want to repay a debt of gratitude to the city?

“Kobe’s streets are special to me. As for repaying, I wonder what that might be. From my standpoint as a player, I thought of nothing but continuing my career and playing as long as I could. Kobe? Repay a debt of gratitude? I suppose I can do my best to pay them some taxes.”

――日米で活躍する選手は甲子園で活躍、プロで活躍、そしてメジャーに挑戦という流れがある。もっとこんな制度ならメジャーに挑戦しやすかったとか、こういうことあればいいなという提言は?

「制度に関しては僕は詳しくないんですけども、でも日本で基礎を作る、自分が将来、MLBでプレーする……。MLBで活躍するために礎を作るという考え方であれば、できるだけ早くというのは分かりますけど、日本の野球で鍛えられることってたくさんあるんですよね。だから制度だけに目を向けるのはフェアではないと思いますけどね」

――日本の野球で鍛えられたことは?

「基本的な基礎の動きって、おそらくメジャーリーグの選手より日本だったら中学生レベルの方がうまい可能性だってありますよ。それはチームとしての連係もあるじゃないですか。そんなの言わなくたってできますからね、日本の野球では。でも、こちらではなかなかそこは……。個人としてのポテンシャル、運動能力は高いですけど、そこにはかなり苦しみましたよ。苦しんで、諦めましたよ」

–(Japanese) players who go to the majors now follow a path from playing  (in the high school tournaments) at Koshien Stadium, and from there to Japanese pro ball and then the majors. Based on your own experiences if there was a different a system, that would make it easier for Japanese to go to the majors, what would that be? This is hypothetical, but could there be some kind of developmental system or is playing in Nippon Professional Baseball still the best way?

“I really don’t know in much detail about systems as such. My baseball foundations were laid in Japan for my future of playing in MLB. But in the case of building the necessary foundation in order to play in MLB, I know that the sooner you go the better, but Japanese baseball still has much to teach, so it’s really not fair to look just at the different systems.”

–What did you Japanese baseball teach you?

“One could argue that from the standpoint of fundamentals, how to play the game, Japanese junior high school-level players may be better than major leaguers because of the focus on teamwork through things like relay plays. We (Japanese) can execute those things without being told. That’s Japanese baseball, but over there, well… the players used to be athletic and have high individual potential, and I think that is still the case, but (my hope that teammates would become better fundamentally) it was so frustrating. Eventually, it became so frustrating I just put it out of my mind.”

――エンゼルスの大谷翔平選手との対戦を楽しみにしていたけど、叶わなかった。イチローさん本人は対戦したかったか?

「先ほどもお伝えしましたが、世界一の選手にならないといけない選手ですよ。そう考えてます。翔平との対戦、残念ですけど、できれば僕がピッチャーで翔平バッターがやりたかったんですよ。そこは誤解なきようにお願いします」

――大谷選手は今後どのような選手になっていくと思いますか?

「なっていくかどうか? そこは占い師に聞いてもらわないとわからないけどねぇ。まぁでも、投げることも、打つこともやるのであれば、僕は1シーズンごとに、1シーズンはピッチャー、次のシーズンは打者として、それでサイ・ヤング(賞)とホームラン王を取ったら……だってそんなこと考えることすらできないですよ。翔平はその想像をさせるじゃないですか、人に。この時点でもう明らかに人とは違う選手であると思うんですけど。その二刀流は面白いなと思うんですよね。(記者に向かって)納得いっていない感じの表情ですけど。ピッチャーとして20勝するシーズンがあって、その翌年には50本打ってMVP獲ったら、これ化け物ですよね。でも、それが想像できなくないですからね。そんな風に思っています」

–We were looking forward to facing the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, but it didn’t come to pass. Did you want to face him?

“I think I answered that already, but my thinking is he is a guy who has to be No. 1 in the world. It’s unfortunate about a matchup against each other. I wanted to pitch against Shohei if that had been possible. Please don’t misunderstand that. ”

–What kind of player do you think Shohei Ohtani will become?

“What will he be? I think that’s something only a fortune teller can explain. If one was capable of pitching and hitting, what I would like to do is pitch one season and bat the next. In that way one could win the Cy Young Award one year and win the home run title the next. That’s because it’s something I can’t even consider. After all, Shohei is the kind of player who invites that kind of impression. He’s already proved he’s a player who is different from others. I think that playing two ways is pretty cool. You don’t look like that answer is going to satisfy you.”

“OK. Let’s say he wins 20 games in one year as a pitcher, and hits 50 home runs the next and is MVP. That’s a monster, but it’s not something you can exclude as a possibility. That’s kind of how I look at him.”

――現役野球選手じゃない自分は嫌だとインタビューで言っていた。

「僕は嫌だって言わないと思うけどね。僕、野球選手じゃない僕を想像するの嫌だとたぶん言っていないと思いますよ」

――改めて野球選手ではない自分を想像してどうか?

「いやだから、違う野球選手に多分なってますよ。あれ? この話さっきしましたよね。お腹減ってきて集中力が切れてきちゃって、さっき何話したのかもちょっと記憶に……。草野球の話しましたよね? そっちでいずれ……それは楽しくやっていると思うんですけど。そうするときっと草野球を極めたいと思うんでしょうね。真剣に草野球をやるという野球選手になるんじゃないですか、結局。聞いてます?」

「お腹減ってきたもうー。結構やっていないですか、これ。今時間どれくらい? 1時間? 20分? あらー。今日はとことんお付き合いしようかなと思ったんですけどね。お腹減ってきちゃった」

–It is said you agreed with the sentiment that you would hate the idea of yourself as a retired player.

“I don’t think I would say, ‘I hate that.’ I don’t believe I said I dislike the idea of myself as someone who isn’t a player.”

–So can you imagine yourself as something other than a baseball player?

“Since you don’t like that (answer), do you mean seeing myself playing a different kind of baseball? I already talked about that. I’m kind of hungry and my concentration is fading. My recollection of what I said before is…Did I talk about “kusayakyu” (backlot baseball)? In any case, I think that would be fun. I would be the kind of player who masters kusayakyu. In that case, I’d be really serious at it. Are you listening?”
“I am so hungry. Is this not enough? How long have we been going at this? An hour? 1 hour, 20 minutes? Oh my. I was kind of hoping to be out with people until late, and now I’m starving.”

――プロ野球人生振り返って、誇れることは?

「これ、先ほどお話しましたよね。小林君もちょっと集中力切れてるんじゃないの? 完全にその話したよね。ほらそれで1問減ってしまうんだから」

–When you look back on your career, what are you proud of (from Mr. Kobayashi of the Daily Sports)?

“Hold on. I think I answered that already. Mr. Kobayashi is your concentration also wavering? I absolutely definitely answered that, so that’s one less question for me.”

――イチロー選手の小学生時代の卒業文集に「僕の夢は一流の野球選手になることです」と書いていたが、その当時の自分にどんな言葉をかけたいですか?

「お前、契約金1億(円)ももらえないよって。ですね。いやー夢は大きくと言いますけどね、なかなか難しいですよ。ドラ1の1億って掲げていましたけど、全然、遠く及ばなかったですから。いやー、ある意味では挫折ですよね、それは」

「こんな終わり方でいいのかな? なんかきゅっとしたいよね、最後は」

–When you were in elementary school, you wrote in your graduation essay ‘My dream is to be a top-level baseball player.’ What would you like to say to that boy that was you?

“Listen kid. You’re not going to get a 100 million yen ($900,000) signing bonus. Yes, that’s right. No, we say to have big dreams, but they are also hard. I also wrote that I wanted to be a No. 1 draft pick with a bonus of 100 million, but that proved beyond my grasp. So in a sense, is that not frustration, too? Is that a good place to end this? I really want to polish this off properly, so OK one last question.”

――前のマリナーズ時代、何度か「自分は孤独を感じながらプレーしている」と話していた。ヤンキース、マーリンズとプレーする役割が変わってきて、去年ああいう状態があって今年引退。その孤独感はずっと感じてプレーしていたのか。それとも前の孤独感とは違うものがあったのか。

「現在それ(孤独感)全くないです。今日の段階で、それは全くないです。それとは少し違うかもしれないですけど、アメリカに来て、メジャーリーグに来て……外国人になったこと。アメリカでは僕は外国人ですから。このことは……外国人になったことで、人の心を慮ったり、人の痛みを想像したり、今までなかった自分が現れたんですよね。この体験というのは、本を読んだり、情報を取ることはできたとしても、体験しないと自分の中からは生まれないので。孤独を感じて苦しんだことは多々ありました。ありましたけど、その体験は未来の自分にとって大きな支えになるんだろうと、今は思います。だから、辛いこと、しんどいことから逃げたいと思うのは当然のことなんですけど、でもエネルギーのある元気なときにそれに立ち向かっていく、そのことはすごく人として重要なことなのではないかなと感じています」

「締まったね、最後。いやー長い時間ありがとうございました。眠いでしょ、皆さんも。ねぇ。じゃあ、そろそろ帰りますか、ね」

–During your first time with the Mariners, you said a number of times that ‘I feel lonely when I play.’ But with the Yankees and Marlins, your role changed. Then you had that situation last year, and now you’ve retired. Did you continue to play with that feeling of loneliness? Or did the nature of the loneliness you felt change?

“I don’t feel that anymore. At this stage, not at all. This might be a little different (from what you meant), but when I arrived in America, when I came to the majors, I became a foreigner, because I was in America and that made me a foreigner there. Through this thing of becoming a foreigner I began to consider other people, began to imagine things like the pain of others.”

Popping NPB’s 2019 cork

Lots to see on Opening Day in Japan as Nippon Professional Baseball gets underway on Friday, March 29. Fourteen hours after Masahiro Tanaka became the first Japanese pitcher to make four Opening Day starts, Randy Messenger made his fifth straight for the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers.

In Chiba, former Chicago White Sox player Tadahito Iguchi, opened his second season as skipper of the Pacific League’s Lotte Marines by starting 18-year-old Kyota Fujiwara in center field and led him off, marking the first time in NPB that a player started Opening Day straight out of high school since Shohei Ohtani opened the 2013 season in right field and batting eighth for the Nippon Ham Fighters — or in tribute to Susan Slusser, the porcine pugilists.

Like Ohtani, Fujiwara began his career against veteran right-hander Takayuki Kishi, who retired both in their first pro at-bats. Kishi, however, left with leg issues, and the Marines came from behind to win at home.

At Sapporo Dome, Orix Buffaloes rookie Yuma Tongu singled in two runs in his first at-bat against the Fighters, who came back to win on Sho Nakata‘s 10th-inning grand slam.

In the Tigers-Swallows game, despite the presence of Messenger and the rest of Hanshin’s over-the-hill gang, the offensive action was highlighted by rookies. Yakult’s 19-year-old third baseman Munetaka Nakamura, who dominated the Eastern League last year, delivered a sacrifice fly to open the scoring. The Tigers, however, broke through against Yasuhiro Ogawa when rookie Seiya Kinami (3rd pick in 2018) reached on an error and scored on a triple by Koji Chikamoto (1st pick).

In Hiroshima, new Yomiuri Giant Yoshihiro Maru returned to the park where he won two MVP awards for the Carp, and went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts for the second time in his career. Carp starter Daichi Osera made it look easy, locating his fastball and breaking ball and throwing some cutters that would make Mariano Rivera take notice as he struck out 11 in a 5-0 win.