There’s nothing left to say about Ichiro Suzuki, the player, that hasn’t been said before. He’s an all-time-great, a living legend, and deserves all the love he gets, even now that his playing career is over. But off the field, Suzuki is still a superstar, growing his legend by the day.
For example (via Matt Monagan at MLB.com), back in January “a few students from Japan’s Kokugakuin Kugayama High School wrote the 48-year-old future Hall of Famer a letter asking him to be a guest instructor at one of their practices. And then, after nearly a year, this past Monday, Ichiro showed up — reportedly touched by the note.”
But Ichiro didn’t just show up. He took some batting practice and absolutely DESTROYED baseballs to a chorus of “oohs and aahs,” as Monagan put it.
Ichiro Suzuki impressing Kokugakuin Kugayama high school players in Tokyo during batting practice today. from baseball
I mean look at these faces, you can’t beat this:
Ichiro reportedly plays to visit two more high schools in Japan before the end of the year.