He may not come off that way, but Ichiro Suzuki actually is a pretty humorous dude. He jokes around with Griffey in the clubhouse and raps each year to pump up the AL All-Star team. He also speaks pretty good English and got off this classic quote regarding his slap-hitting style:
“Chicks who dig home runs aren’t the ones who appeal to me,” he said. “I think there’s sexiness in infield hits because they require technique. I’d rather impress the chicks with my technique than with my brute strength. Then, every now and then, just to show I can do that, too, I might flirt a little by hitting one out.”
Dude, this guy is hilarious! Talk about bringing the beauty of small ball mainstream. A lot has been made about Ichiro lately because his style has put him at nearly 2,000 career hits in just nine seasons in the bigs. Combined with his stats from Japan and his consistent dominance of the world’s best pitching, Ichiro no doubt exemplifies a Hall of Famer. I just can’t wait for him to start pitching so he can go down in history in the same category as Babe Ruth. Remind me again why his teammates wanted to beat him up?
(via Big League Stew)
