Tag Archives: Ichiro Suzuki

Matt Murton’s wild ride

Matt Murton
Former Hanshin Tiger Matt Murton outside the Cubs’ spring training facility in Mesa, Arizona.

Matt Murton knows a few things about role reversal, having gone from phenom to role player for the Chicago Cubs and from record-setting hero to villain in his six seasons with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Central League.

‘Win or lose, they find a way to put me on the front page,’ he quipped in his final season here.

Murton debuted with Hanshin in 2010 and proved a quick study in the ways of Japan’s game. His precise and rigorous pregame practice blew away manager Akinobu Mayumi. And when he began challenging to break Ichiro Suzuki’s 16-year-old single-season hit record, he seemed a worthy heir. When he did set a new record, Murton did it in a season that was 14 games longer, but Suzuki said that didn’t make it less of an accomplishment.

“You have an organization that has a lot of input from a lot of people who are not baseball people. And then you have the media. It creates an environment in which everyone has to be very cognizant of their back.”

Matt Murton to Kyodo News in 2015

But what should have been the happiest of times turned into a depressing slog, a stellar season overshadowed by hyper expectations. When Murton finally got hit No. 211, the weight of the world came off his shoulders. At the end, a season begun as a way to learn lessons needed to restart his major league career instead created an unbreakable molecular bond between player and country.

Yet, within two years, when Murton and the rest of the Kansai region’s most popular club failed to meet expectations, everything around him had changed. In 2013, when a reporter insinuated he hadn’t been trying hard in the outfield, Murton sarcastically said he didn’t like pitcher Atsushi Nomi — who was on the mound when Murton failed to throw out a runner at the plate.

Not only did the regional sports media, who report every scrap of Tigers news, turn on him, but his words were splashed across the front page of every sports daily in Japan.

“You can’t go back and you can’t change it,” Murton, now an assistant in baseball operations for the Cubs, said this spring in Mesa, Arizona.

“I think for me specifically, it became kind of polarizing. We are playing for a team that was very visible. Given what I was able to accomplish as an individual in unison with our team in our first year, it puts you in a place of being very visible as a foreign player, and any misstep or anything that happened along the way was magnified. I feel that some of it wasn’t as big a deal as they made it out to be, some of it could have been handled differently. It was probably a combination of all of the above.”

Matt  Murton data splits

Breaking Ichiro’s hit record

In retrospect, 2010 can be seen as a lesson about one aspect of the dynamic between Japanese groups and their individual members. Because Japan emphasizes group success and failure, it can be a surprise that league-leading achievements and individual awards take on so much importance.

One trick is to look at those things as credits to the group ledger, because they raise the profile of the group as a whole. This may help explain why teams sometimes do whatever they can to boost individuals accomplishments even to the detriment of team wins. It used to be common to intentionally walking opposing hitters – regardless of the game situation – if it assists a teammate’s effort to win an individual title, provided the team had nothing to play for.

The introduction of playoffs in the Pacific League in 2004 and the Central League in 2007 has reduced the number of meaningless games, so there are fewer chances to witness those farces. But having a sense that individual accomplishments are to teams is important in getting a feel for the pressure Murton felt as he approached Suzuki’s record.

“I felt that if I didn’t get it, I would be a failure, that I would be letting my team down,” Murton told The Daily Yomiuri that October as the Tigers prepared to begin the playoffs.

Ironically, he said, the solution came when looking at the problem in a different light.

“What’s so funny about that is I go back to that individual moment in 2010, when I had a chance at Jingu (Stadium) to get a base hit on a changeup up the middle and set the single-season hit record,” he said. “I remember the feelings I had coming into the game. There was an expectation, whether it was the media or people talking about it, whatever it was, to accomplish something as an individual. So I felt that there were these external pressures that I had to carry with me.”

“I’ll never forget that moment because on that day, it was bases loaded, and all of a sudden it came over me, ‘This isn’t about me getting a hit. It’s about knocking my teammates in.’ My thinking transferred from individual result to team success. When I was able to transfer my thinking to more of a group mentality, and living in the moment and competing as a team, the individual success came.”

“If we make it all about self, we oftentimes can find ourselves living at the address of thinking about factors we don’t need to be thinking about. When we keep it simple about the competition in the moment and how to help our team, the individual numbers take care of themselves.”

That was 2010, the last year of loosely regulated baseballs in Japan. That year, offensive numbers did more than take care of themselves. They took care of fellow Tiger Craig Brazell. The Tigers first baseman hit 47 homers that season, despite playing at Koshien Stadium, where the vast power alleys make it one of Japan’s toughest home run parks.

That power output secured Brazell a hefty three-year extension good times seemed just around the corner for Hanshin.

Murton hates Nomi
Murton’s shocking declaration “I hates Nomi” so he helped give away a run.

“I don’t like Nomi”

Like nearly every hitter in Japan, 2011 was a letdown for Murton. After more than a decade of barely regulated balls, Nippon Professional Baseball for the first time introduced a uniform baseball. The new ball was intended to as dead as possible, and it was.

In addition to the deader ball, that season saw umpires from Japan’s two top-flight circuits, the Central and Pacific leagues merged for the first time. Games in Eastern Japan were also played with reduced lighting for much of the season after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami resulted in nuclear meltdowns and created a power shortage.

Across NPB, batting averages dropped by 8 percent and there were 41 percent fewer homers. Murton’s offense took a hit, but he still went on to win his second straight Central League Best Nine Award in the outfield. That earned him a contract extension, but after finishing in fourth place, the Tigers replaced manager Mayumi with Yutaka Wada.

Under Wada, the club did not flounder, but try as they might, the Tigers couldn’t climb above .500. It didn’t help that older Tigers players were not batting as well as expected and Brazell’s power evaporated after 2010. Nor did it help that Murton was guilty of a couple of careless plays in the outfield.

Suddenly, the news among the sports papers feeding the Tigers’ massive fan base began find fault with the team’s foreign players. Part of Hanshin’s dynamic is the extreme degree the club worries about its press coverage.

“You have an organization that has a lot of input from a lot of people who are not baseball people,” Murton told Kyodo News in 2015. “And then you have the media. It creates an environment in which everyone has to be very cognizant of their back. In my experience, they (the team) allow that to infiltrate the organization.”

One of the Hanshin beat writers in 2012 has suggested that Wada and his coaches had caved in to media pressure for a scapegoat and the Tigers threw the foreign players to the wolves.

Murton found himself running a daily gauntlet of insinuations masquerading as post-game questions. And on June 9, after the Tigers lost their interleague game against the PL’s Orix Buffaloes 6-1, he’d had enough.

Murton went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts, dropping his batting average to .231 for the season, but the question was about his defense. With the Tigers losing 1-0 in the fourth, Murton’s throw home on a two-out single to right was unable to nail the runner at the plate or prevent the batter from advancing to second.

Asked if he had tried to throw the runner out at the plate, Murton, who had spent much of his professional career trying to reign in his temper, didn’t get overtly angry, but that hardly mattered.

His “I don’t like Nomi,” offered as a joke, transformed the Tigers irritating media into a personal pestilence.

The sports dailies called for Murton’s head, and parent company stockholders called for Murton’s dismissal. The fans who went to the ballpark, those who actually witnessed his attitude and effort, stuck with him, but the media had a circus to report on and wasn’t going to give it up easily.

“It was frustration, and the question that was asked and I didn’t understand,” Murton said. “I think the question was questioning integrity or how hard you were trying to do or whatever, so it was tough. But that probably wasn’t the right way to respond. But it was certainly in jest, a joke. Therein lies a cultural lesson that our jokes don’t always translate.”

Matt Murton on his transition to a non-playing job with the Cubs.

Cultural collisions at home and abroad

Having learned sarcasm doesn’t travel, Murton crossed another cultural divide in 2013, when he twice slammed into Yakult Swallows catchers. Japanese catchers had been trained to block the plate without the ball, and then duck and cover in case runners tried to bowl them over. Umpires did not require tags on such plays, demanding catchers only hold on to the ball.

Most, but not all, collisions on Japanese base paths have involved foreign base runners, who had been taught since childhood that separating catchers from the ball was the base runner’s duty to his team.

On the same day Yakult Swallows catcher Masahiko Tanaka returned to duty months after an earlier collision with Murton, the Tigers outfielder slammed into Swallows veteran Ryoji Aikawa at Jingu. Aikawa himself had been sidelined early in the season in a collision with a different runner, and was not in a forgiving mood. Shoving and F-bombs ensued at home plate, Murton was ejected, and his transformation from famous to infamous was complete.

The following spring, instead of pulling out the “This is how baseball is played” excuse, Murton said he would be fine with rules that prohibited catchers without the ball from blocking the plate and prevented runners from trying to dislodge the ball rather than reach home.

“If that’s the rule, then the catcher doesn’t get hurt and I as the runner don’t get hurt,” he said.

“I’m very passionate and driven. We can sit here and make excuses all day long, but excuses are a hindrance to growth. In order for us to grow, we’ve got to be raw. We’ve got to be vulnerable and realize we do have some shortcomings and that there are plenty of ways to learn from previous experiences.”

Japanese lessons

Needless to say, Japan provided Murton with lots of grist for that mill. And though he first came here to acquire skills with which he could relaunch his major league career, he got more than he bargained for.

“At the end of the day it’s the respect you gain by playing there, the level of the competition you see on a day-in, day-out basis, coupled with the enthusiasm and the support of the people. This is very unique. Chicago, I think (is one of) a few markets that present similar type feeling from a player’s perspective. But on a whole, it’s the love of the game, and the opportunity to compete in front of people who care.”

“Culturally, you get a chance to engage something that is very unique and a lot can be learned and it’s a place that as an American or a foreigner, there’s so many things that Japan offers, it’s a really cool experience. You love that experience, the time you spend there and you never want to shut the door on that.”

Murton said that was true even when things went awry in ways he couldn’t fathom at the time. Three-plus years later, having finally retired and moved on to a team-building career, Murton has gained more perspective.

“It’s always easier once you are removed from an environment to be able to look at it more objectively. The same is true in regards to competition. What competition does in terms in the sense of the heightened sense of our emotions and our responses, those are all a factor,” he said.

“Culturally, you would feel things or sense things that really weren’t there. I look back on things and say, ‘I wish I wouldn’t have been so taken back by whatever it was, A, B, C or D.’ I think there were times when the feelings were warranted and made sense, but the responses you always wish were different.”

While there’s no going back to the way things were, Murton said his family thinks of Japan a lot. He lives in the Nashville area and is involved with the Japanese community there, and his wife longs for the simplicity of life on Kobe’s Rokko Island, where everything they needed was no more than a short walk away.

“I came back this past September and I was only there for four days,” Murton said. “My two older ones asked on that trip if they could go, and they’ve more recently verbalized that they want to go back. It’s something that will happen, when we make sense of when that time is right for the younger kids and for us as a family.”

“You walk away from experiences and you want to do it in a way that you’re wanting more,” he said. “It’s a part of you. It’s a season in your life. It’s a chapter. It doesn’t change your identity or future, but that will always be a part of you and that will never change, so there’s gratitude for the experience and the relationships.”

“At the end of the day it’s the respect you gain by playing there (in Japan), the level of the competition you see on a day-in, day-out basis, coupled with the enthusiasm and the support of the people.”

While Japanese baseball is not major league baseball, it represents some things that are hard to find in the majors, and he wasn’t talking about 3-1 sliders, 2-0 curveballs or 100-pitch bullpens but engagement.

“I think there are a few (major league) markets that present similar type feeling from a player’s perspective,” Murton said, noting that playing in Chicago has a similar vibe. “On a whole, it’s the love of the game, and the opportunity to compete in front of people who care.”

“Culturally, you get a chance to engage something that is very unique and a lot can be learned. And it’s a place that as an American or a foreigner, there’s so many things that Japan offers, it’s a really cool experience. You love that experience, the time you spend there and you never want to shut the door on that.”

Words for the wise

For those wishing to share that, and who are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time when a Japanese club has its eyes on then, Murton has some advice.

“The first thing would be to be prepared for a challenge physically. If you’ve never experienced it, you don’t quite understand the level of competition,” he said. “No. 1 is you have to prepare your body and your mind. Never forget who you are, but take that America mindset or whatever it is from whatever country you are from and check it at the door.”

“Kind of embrace the culture on the field and off the field. Right off the bat, there are going to be things done differently that maybe doesn’t make sense to you. That’s OK, because the feelings that you have are probably not any different from other guys that have played before you. Be aware that some of those situations are going to create feelings that are going to make it hard for you to understand.”

“But just live at the address of showing up every day, caring for people and love the game. If you can do those things, embrace the culture and the unique opportunity you have. You’re one of a very select few, so just try and make the most of that.”

But that is the hindsight of six seasons of seeing foreign players come and go. One early surprise in 2010 was seeing coaches’ brows furrow when he’d spend an entire batting practice working on fundamentals. Murton wasn’t yet used to Japanese baseball’s love of material results, where a fluke single on a bad swing can be declared a good sign, while good swings and hard-hit outs can be a cause for concern.

“Normally, I come to camp thinking, ‘I’m going to work the backside of the field, and I’m going to get my swings in,’ because that was the mentality you had coming from America,” Murton said. “If you’re a hitter (in Japan), the first day go ahead and try to hit some home runs, try to let them know you can do it. Then everyone will relax and you can go back to doing what you’ve got to do. So yes, that is the one other piece of advice I’d probably give.”

That and perhaps, save the sarcasm for home.

“I had a chance to see him (Nomi) for dinner this past September, and I gave him a nice hug,” Murton said.

“That was always going to be a thing,” Murton said. “I still can’t believe to this day that it took on this life of its own. And part of that is my own fault.”

Ichiro from start to finish, part 3

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

――ユニークなTシャツを着ていたが、何か心情を表していたのか? 全く関係なくただ好きで着ているのか?

「そこは……もう言うと急に野暮ったくなるから、言わない方がいいんだよね。それはだから見る側の解釈だから。そう捉えれば、そう捉えることもできるし、全然関係ない可能性もあるし。それでいいんじゃないですか?」

――好きに楽しんでいただきたいと?

「だってそういうものでしょ。いちいちそれ説明すると本当に野暮ったいもんね」

――言わないほうが粋だと?

「まぁ粋って自分で言えないけどね。言うと無粋であることは間違いないでしょうね」

–In camp you wear some unique T-shirts. Was that to express some feelings, or are you just wearing them for fun without any special meaning?

“Well, if I said, then it would come out sounding pretty crude, so it’s better if I don’t. I think it’s up to the interpretation of the viewer. If you think you get the meaning, then you can take something from it, although you might get nothing at all from it. Maybe it’s best if I leave it that way.”

–So it’s up to us to enjoy it as we like?

“That’s the kind of thing it is. If I sit here and explain them one by one, it’s going to get crude.”

–So not saying it is the tasteful way?

“I’m refined so I wouldn’t say it. If you do say it, you’ll come across as boorish.”

――イチローさんを支えてきた弓子夫人への思いは?

「いやぁ、頑張ってくれましたね。一番頑張ってくれたと思います。僕はアメリカで結局3089本のヒットを打ったわけですけど、妻はですね、およそ……僕はゲームの前にホームの時はおにぎりを食べるんですね。妻が握ってくれたおにぎりを球場に持っていって食べるのですけど、その数がですねぇ、2800個くらいだったんですよ。だから3000いきたかったみたいですね。そこは3000個握らせてあげたかったなと思います。妻もそうですけど、まぁとにかく頑張ってくれました。僕はゆっくりする気はないですけど、妻にはゆっくりしてもらいたいと思ってます。

 それと一弓(いっきゅう)ですね。一弓というのはご存じない方もいるかもしれないですけど、我が家の愛犬ですね。柴犬なんですけど。現在17歳と7か月。今年で18歳になろうかという芝犬なんですけど。さすがにおじいちゃんになってきて、毎日フラフラなんですが、懸命に生きているんですよね。その姿を見ていたら、それはオレ頑張らなきゃなって。これはジョークとかではなくて、本当に思いました。あの懸命に生きる姿。(一弓は)2001年に生まれて、2002年にシアトルの我が家に来たんですけど、まさか最後まで一緒に、僕が現役を終えるときまで一緒に過ごせるとは思っていなかったので、これは大変感慨深いですね。一弓の姿というのは。本当に妻と一弓には感謝の思いしかないですね」

— What are your thoughts for Yumiko, who has had your back all this time?

“She really gave her all. I think she did the most. I had 3,089 hits in the the U.S.. But my wife is, well, before home games I ate rice balls that she made and I took to the stadium. She got to about 2,800, and it seems she wanted to get to 3,000. She really did great. I am not one to take it easy, but I want her to.”

“Then there’s Ikkyu. Some of you may not know, but Ikkyu is our dog, a Shiba. Currently he’s 17 years old and 7 months old, 18 this year. He’s like a grandfather, wobbling around every day, but is still hanging in there. When I see him, I think I can’t let up. That may sound like a joke, but I really feel that way. He’s trying so hard to stay alive. He was born in 2001 and came to our home in Seattle in 2002. I would never have believed that he would be with us until I retired. I have strong emotions for him. Indeed, when I think of my wife and of Ikkyu, my heart is filled with gratitude toward them.

――打席内での感覚の変化は今年はあったのか?

「いる? それここで。いる? 裏で話そう、後で。裏で」

–Has there been any change this year in the sensation when at bat?

“Do you need that here? Let’s talk, later. Somewhere private.”

――これまで数多くの決断と戦ってきたが、今までで一番考えぬいて決断したものは?

「これ順番つけられないですね。それぞれが一番だと思います。ただ、アメリカでプレーするために当時、今とは違う形のポスティングシステムだったんですけど、自分の思いだけでは当然それは叶わないで、当然球団からの了承がないと行けないんですね。その時に、誰をこちら側……こちら側っていう敵味方みたいでおかしいんですけど、球団にいる誰かを口説かないといけないというか、説得しないといけないというか。そのときに一番に浮かんだのが仰木監督ですね。その何年か前からアメリカでプレーしたいという思いを伝えていたこともあったんですけど、仰木監督だったらおいしいご飯でお酒を飲ませたら……飲ませたらってこれはあえて言っていますけど、これはうまくいくんじゃないかと思ったら、まんまとうまくいって。これがなかったら、何も始まらなかったので。口説く相手に仰木監督を選んだのは大きかったなと思いますね。また、『ダメだ。ダメだ』とおっしゃっていたものがお酒でこんなに変わってくれるんだと思って、お酒の力をまざまざと見ましたし。でもやっぱり、しゃれた人だったなと思いますね。だから仰木監督から学んだもの、計り知れないと思います」

–You have tackled many decisions so far, such as going to America in 2000, joining Japan for the 2006 WBC, 2007 signing an extension with the Mariners, and now retiring, but which one was the hardest to think through?

“I cannot rank them. I think different ones could be No. 1 in some way. However, to play in the U.S., although it was a different form of posting system back then, I could not get up and go on my own. I could not go without the team’s consent. At that time, I needed someone on my side… It is strange to say it like there were sides, friends and foes, but if no one within the team argued my case, they wouldn’t have understood and I wouldn’t have been able to go. The one who most comes to mind from that time was our manager, Ogi. I had been telling him I wanted to play in the U.S. for several years. In regards to manager Ogi, I took him out for good food and drink, when he drank I was able to say that, and if I think about it, that was what worked well. If it hadn’t been for that, nothing would have happened. I think the big thing was choosing manager Ogi as the person to persuade. He said over and over again, ‘It’s no good, no good.’ But that changed over alcohol. That clearly demonstrated how powerful a thing alcohol can be. He’s the one who taught me that, and for that reason I think the things manager Ogi taught me cannot be measured.”

――昨日の試合は第1回WBCで日本が優勝した日と同じだったが、それは運命的なものがあったりするのか?

「まぁ聞かされればそう思うこともできるという程度ですかね。僕はそのことは知らなかったですけど」

–The date of yesterday’s game coincided with the date in Japan when you won the first WBC. Was that fate?

“When I hear that, I think it must be to some degree. I didn’t know that.”

――最も我慢したものは何だった?

「難しい質問だなあ……。僕、我慢できない人なんですよ。我慢が苦手で楽なこと、楽なことを重ねているっていう感じなんですね。自分ができること、やりたいことを重ねているので、我慢の感覚はないんですけど、とにかく体を動かしたくてしょうがないので、体をこんなに動かしちゃだめだっていって、体を動かすことを我慢することはたくさんありました。それ以外はなるべくストレスがないような、自分にとってですね、ストレスがないように考えて行動してきたつもりなので。家では妻が料理をいろいろ考えて作ってくれますけど、これロードに出るとなんでもいいわけですよね。無茶苦茶ですよ、ロードの食生活なんて。だから我慢できないから、結局そういうことになってしまうんですけど、そんな感じなんですね。今、聞かれたような趣旨の我慢は思い当たらないですね。おかしなこと言ってます、僕?」

–In your career, what was the thing you were able to endure the most?

“What a tough question. Actually, I’m not very patient. I’m not good at putting up with things, and tend to indulge in things I enjoy. Things I’m able to do, or want to do, I plug away at those things and I don’t feel it’s something I need to endure. But having said that, I really like exercising a lot, but sometimes working out so much is a problem, so I often have to stop. Nothing else stresses me out as much as that, because I’ve come this far thinking about avoiding stress. At home, my wife puts a lot of thought into cooking, and then when I’m on the road, anything is OK. What there is to eat on the road is actually pretty awful.”

――台湾ではイチローさんのファンがいっぱいいまして、何か台湾の人に伝えたいことは何かないか?

「(元中日の)チェンが元気か知りたいですね。(マーリンズで)チームメートでしたから。チェンは元気にやってますかね? それが聞けて何よりです。今のところ(台湾に行く)予定はないけど、でも以前に行ったことがあるんですよ、一度。すごく優しい印象でしたね。心が優しくて、いいなあと思いました」

–You have so many fans in Taiwan. Is there something you would like to tell them?

“I’d like to know how Chen Wei-yin is doing. We were teammates (with the Marlins). Is he doing well? I would love to hear that. At the present, I don’t have a plan to visit Taiwan, but I’ve been there before once. I felt the people were nice, very kind hearted.”

――菊池(雄星)投手が同じマリナーズに入って、去年は大谷(翔平)選手がエンゼルスに入った。後輩たちに託すことは?

「雄星のデビューの日に僕は引退を迎えたのは、何かいいなあと思っていて……もう『ちゃんとやれよ』という思いですね。短い時間でしたけど、すごくいい子で。いろんな選手を見てきたんですけど、左ピッチャーの先発って変わっている子が多いんですよ。本当に。天才肌が多いという言い方もできるんですかね。アメリカでもまぁ多いです。だから、こんなにいい子いるのかなっていう感じですよ、ここまで。今日まで。

 でも、キャンプ地から日本に飛行機で移動してくるわけですけど、チームはドレスコードですね、服装のルールが黒のセットアップ、ジャージのセットアップでOK。長旅なので、できるだけ楽にという配慮ですけど、『雄星、俺たちどうする?』って。『アリゾナ発つときはいいんだけれども、日本着いたときにさすがにジャージはダメだろ』って2人で話していたんですね。

『そうですよね、イチローさん、どうするんですか?』って。僕は『中はTシャツだけどセットアップでジャケット着ているようにしようかな』って。『じゃあ僕もそうします』と雄星が言うんです。で、キャンプ地を発つときのバスの中で、みんな、僕もそうでしたけど、黒のジャージのセットアップでみんなバスに乗り込んできて。雄星と席が近かったので『雄星やっぱ、だめだよな、これっ』て。『やっぱり日本に着いたときに、メジャーリーガーがこれはダメだろ』ってバスの中で言っていたんですよね。『いや、そうですよね』って。そうしたらまさか羽田に着いたときに黒のジャージでしたからね。いや、コイツ大物だな、と思って。ぶったまげました。それは本人にまだ真相は聞いてないんですけど、何があったのかわからないですけど、左ピッチャーはやっぱ変わったヤツ多いなと思ったんですね。でも、スケール感は出てました。頑張ってほしいです。

 翔平はもうちゃんとケガを治してスケールの、物理的にも大きいわけですし。アメリカの選手に全くサイズ的にも劣らない。あのサイズであの機敏な動きができるというのはいないですからね、それだけで。いやもう世界一の選手にならなきゃいけないですよ、うん」

–Yusei Kikuchi has joined the Mariners, and last year Shohei Ohtani joined the Angels. Is there a message you would like to impart to the guys who are following in your footsteps?

““I thought it might be good if I went into my retirement the same day Yusei made his debut. I wanted him to do a real good job. Although we were together only briefly, he’s a real good kid. I’ve seen a lot of players in my time, but I have to say, that there are a lot of weirdos among left-handed starting pitchers. I’m not kidding. I think you could also say that there are a lot of geniuses among them. Anyway, there’re a lot of them in America. That’s why I was thinking what a good kid he is.”

 “That being said, when we traveled to Japan from camp it was by plane and thus there was a dress code. You can wear either a black jacket setup or a black sweater setup. On a long trip, you take comfort into consideration. I said, ‘Yusei, what should we do?’ We agreed that when we left Arizona anything would be OK, but the sweater won’t do when we land in Japan.”

 “He said, ‘Ichiro-san, what’s best?’ I said, ‘I think I’ll go with a jacket and a T-shirt.’ So he said he’d probably do the same. When the team boarded the bus in Arizona, everyone was wearing the same black sweater setup. When Yusei approached my seat on the bus, I said, ‘Just as I expected, Yusei. You can’t wear that. You have to realize that what you’re wearing won’t do as a major leaguer arriving in Japan.’ He said, ‘Oh no. I suppose not.’”

“Anyway, when we arrived at Haneda Airport, (instead of the black jacket setup) he was wearing the (casual) black sweater setup.’ All I could think of was that this guy is the real thing. I haven’t really gotten a good sense of him yet, but it reminded me that so many left-handed pitchers are weird. You get a sense he is a big figure. I hope he gives it all he has.”

“Shohei has already finished his treatment, and physically he’s on such a large scale. In terms of size, he’s not inferior to American players in any way. But because he can move like a player that size shouldn’t be able to, he has to be the best player in the world.”

――イチローさんが愛を貫いてきた野球。その魅力とは?

「団体競技なんですけど、個人競技だというところですかね。野球が面白いところだと思います。チームが勝てばそれでいいかというと、全然そんなことないですよね。個人としても結果を残さないと生きていくことはできないですよね。本来はチームとして勝っていれば、チームとしてのクオリティが高いはずなので、それでいいんじゃないかという考えもできるかもしれないですけど、決してそうではない。その厳しさが面白いところかなと。面白いというか、魅力であることは間違いないですね。あと、同じ瞬間がないということ。必ず、必ずどの瞬間も違うということ。これは飽きがこないですよね」

–You’ve invested your love in baseball. What is its appeal?

“It’s a team competition, but it’s also an individual sport. That’s why baseball is interesting. One could say that if your team wins, then that’s all that matters, but it’s not the case at all. If you don’t produce as an individual, you can’t survive. Also, if one team wins, one might say in general that team is better, and it’s OK to think so, but it’s not really true. I think maybe that difficulty is what makes it interesting. It’s attractive without a doubt. No two moments are the same. Every moment is different.”

――イチロー選手がいない野球をどう楽しんだらいいか?

「2001年に僕がアメリカに来てから、この2019年の現在の野球は全く別の違う野球になりました。まぁ、頭を使わなくてもできてしまう野球になりつつあるような……。選手も現場にいる人たちはみんな感じていることだと思うんですけど、これがどうやって変化していくのか。次の5年、10年。しばらくはこの流れは止まらないと思うんですけど。本来は野球というのは……ダメだ、これ言うとなんか問題になりそうだな。問題になりそうだな。頭を使わなきゃできない競技なんですよ、本来は。でもそうじゃなくなってきているのがどうも気持ち悪くて。ベースボール、野球の発祥はアメリカですから。その野球がそうなってきているということに危機感を持っている人って結構いると思うんですよね。だから、日本の野球がアメリカの野球に追従する必要なんてまったくなくて、やっぱり日本の野球は頭を使う面白い野球であってほしいなと思います。アメリカのこの流れは止まらないので、せめて日本の野球は決して変わってはいけないこと、大切にしなくてはいけないものを大切にしてほしいなと思います」

–How should we enjoy baseball without Ichiro?

“The baseball played in America in 2019 has completely changed since I arrived in 2001,” he said. “It’s now in the process of becoming a game where you can now get by without using your head. A lot of active players see this, too, and wonder how this might change. I don’t see this trend stopping over the next five years, or 10 years or for the foreseeable future. Fundamentals mean nothing. Perhaps saying that might cause trouble. That (saying this) definitely looks like it will be a problem.”

“On a fundamental level, baseball is a game that requires thinking. That it’s losing that makes me sick. America is baseball’s birthplace, and I believe a lot of people have a sense of urgency over what the game is becoming. So I think there is no need for Japan’s game to follow America’s. The Japanese game should be a thinking, interesting brand of ball. As long as this trend in America does not stop, I hope Japanese ball doesn’t change and that we remember to cherish it.”