Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he's much more than that in Japan. Back home, he's a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan's economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

TOKYO (AP) — Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball ... Right-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country’s confidence in a period ...

TOKYO – Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball ... Right-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country's confidence in a period of national ...

TOKYO (AP) — Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball ... to span the Pacific and an instant star. Left-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting ...

During the gestation period for the place that would become baseball’s sacred shrine, Time Magazine, the New York Times and other periodicals referred to it as the “Baseball Hall of Fame.” Then, when the stately brick building housing the Hall officially opened in 1939,

On April 2, 2001, Bret Boone jogged to second base for a chilly Opening Day in Seattle. The roof at Safeco Field was open, the upstart Oakland Athletics were in town, and ESPN2 had the national broadcast. Boone was preparing for the first pitch of his 10th season when second base umpire Kerwin Danley called his name.

Suzuki spent nine seasons with Orix in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball before joining MLB and the Mariners in 2001. While Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo was a star for the Dodgers in the 1990s, Suzuki was the first Japanese position player to enjoy that level of success in the majors.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he's much more than that in Japan. Back home, he's a wellspring of national pride.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he’s much more than that in Japan. Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan’s economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

TOKYO — Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball ... the first Japanese position player to span the Pacific and an instant star. Left-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country's confidence in a ...

Ichiro Suzuki has become the first Japanese player to make it to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is likely to be the next.

TOKYO — Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball ... Right-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country’s confidence in a period of national ...