Ichiro Suzuki

WHEREAS, Ichiro Suzuki's passion for baseball was rivaled by few 1
players before his time or since his retirement; and2
WHEREAS, Ichiro was born October 22nd, 1973, and grew up in a 3
small Japanese town called Toyoyama; and 4
WHEREAS, Ichiro joined his first baseball team at the age of 7, 5
following a daily routine with his father that included throwing 50 6
pitches, fielding 50 infield balls and 50 outfield balls, and hitting 7
500 pitches; and 8
WHEREAS, By age 12, Ichiro dedicated himself to pursuing a career 9
in professional baseball, dedicating his life to the sport; and10
WHEREAS, Ichiro had established himself as the best baseball 11
player in Japan by the year 2000, which led him to sign with the 12
Seattle Mariners before the 2001 season; and 13
WHEREAS, Ichiro began his rookie season with a bang, hitting 14
safely in 39 of his first 41 games, showing great speed on the base 15
paths and in the outfield, and displaying a very powerful throwing 16
arm; and 17
WHEREAS, Ichiro quickly became a fan favorite in Seattle and the 18
Northwest, with fans at Mariner home games chanting his name before 19
his at-bats; and 20
WHEREAS, Ichiro helped lead the Mariners to the best record in 21
Major League Baseball in 2001 with 116 wins and 46 losses, with the 22
SENATE RESOLUTION
8629
By Senators Schoesler, Boehnke, Chapman, Cleveland, Dozier, Gildon, Goehner, Liias,
Lovelett, MacEwen, Nobles, Orwall, Robinson, Shewmake, Short, Trudeau, Valdez,
Warnick, Wellman, Hasegawa, Braun, Fortunato, Torres, and Wagoner
p. 1 8629
116 wins tying the 1906 Chicago Cubs for most wins by a Major 1
League team in a season; and 2
WHEREAS, Ichiro finished the 2001 season with 242 hits, 56 3
steals, an American League-leading .350 batting average, the 4
first of his 10 Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger 5
Awards, and was a winner of the American League Most Valuable 6
Player and was the runaway winner of the American League Rookie 7
of the Year Award; and 8
WHEREAS, In 2004, Ichiro broke the MLB record for hits in a 9
single season with 262 hits; and 10
WHEREAS, Ichiro was traded by the Mariners to the New York 11
Yankees during the 2012 season, and he later played for the 12
Miami Marlins from 2015 to 2017 before returning to Seattle and 13
ending his MLB career with the Mariners in 2018 and 2019; and14
WHEREAS, Ichiro had the highest batting average of any MLB 15
player who debuted after year 2000; and 16
WHEREAS, Ichiro is one of only seven players in history with 17
at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases; and 18
WHEREAS, Ichiro was the first Japanese position player to 19
sign with a Major League club, and the third Japanese player to 20
sign with the Mariners; and 21
WHEREAS, He became the 30th player to reach 3,000 hits, 22
reaching the milestone on August 7th, 2016; and 23
WHEREAS, Ichiro Suzuki was elected to the Baseball Hall of 24
Fame on January 21st, 2025, receiving 393 of a possible 394 25
votes of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, thus 26
being part of the 2025 Hall of Fame class along with Dick Allen, 27
Dave Parker, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner; 28
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Senate honor and 29
congratulate Ichiro Suzuki on being elected to the Baseball Hall 30
of Fame and thank him for an incredible career with the Seattle 31
Mariners that earned him the respect and admiration of Mariner 32
fans and other baseball fans. 33
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of the Senate, 34
do hereby certify that this is a true and 35
correct copy of Senate Resolution 8629, 36
adopted by the Senate 37
p. 2 8629
March 10, 2025 1
SARAH BANNISTER 2
Secretary of the Senate 3
p. 3 8629