Pics from Ichiro’s speech
Jeff · April 23, 2005 at 5:03 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Derek already covered the dominant sentiment with his two-line post below, but I wanted to add my in-person two cents and a couple of snapshots.
Ichiro’s speech was terrific: people were thrilled when they realized he was going to step to the podium and speak in English. A murmur ran through the crown and built to a roar fairly quickly. His gratitude to George Sisler went over well, and the whole speech was well-received.
Basically, he speaks like he does everything: skillfully, well polished and with grace.
Game? What game?
Two shots after the jump.
Ichiro speaks.
Comments
10 Responses to “Pics from Ichiro’s speech”
I was so moved that for a moment I teared up, thinking he might be retiring after being diagnosed with Ichiro Suzuki’s Disease. We are the luckiest (men) and women on the face of the earth for having him in our midst.
He isn’t Willie Mays, but Ichiro playing baseball is one of the silly, meaningless things that make life a joy.
Wow, was that broadcast at all? Are there any enterprising kids who might have ripped that broadcast into an mpeg or AVI file?
Ichiro!
Jackson,
Try the M’s web site.
Did anyone else notice that they introduced Ichiro and Bud Selig at the same time and they walked to the podium together? What a great way to avoid hearing boos for the commish!
I’ll tell you something about Ichiro’s speech.
A couple nights ago I was thinking a lot about the Angels for some reason.
About how they were the hottest ticket in the OC at the moment, drawing 40,000 a night, and how their owner that spent the most money out of any team on the West Coast.
And that the Mariners now seemed like nothing compared to them, especially after 99 losses in 2004, and everything the Mariners had built up since 1995 was beginning to crumble.
But then when I heard Ichiro speak, it somehow restored my confidence in the Mariners.
He talked about how breaking George Sisler’s record was the best moment of his career, how it was great to do it in SAFECO Field, and that Seattle fans were the greatest in the world.
And every word of it was sincere.
And I just thought to myself, money can’t buy those words at all. Only trust can. And one day very soon the Mariners will be great again, but that trust and bond that brings together the players and fans will always be there in Seattle.
Is it just me or does Ichiro’s trophy look like a gold, ummm, “toy”?
This was a very gracious speech by Susuki and hopefully he follows this cue and conducts future interviews in english instead of falling back on japanese with an interpreter.
Why is that a cue to follow? If Ichiro! is more comfortable talking through an interpreter when he knows his words are going to be going straight into papers, etc, that’s his call.
Gee Peter, if youre going to comment about Ichiro, at least spell his last name correctly.