{"id":197114,"date":"2025-07-23T13:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T13:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/197114\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T13:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T13:19:10","slug":"ichiro-is-one-of-a-kind-but-anybody-can-learn-these-4-lessons-from-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/197114\/","title":{"rendered":"Ichiro is one of a kind, but anybody can learn these 4 lessons from his career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This story is part of Peak, The Athletic\u2019s desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the lens of sports. Follow Peak here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Ichiro Suzuki is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, it will culminate one of the most trailblazing and fascinating careers in Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n

In 2001, Suzuki, a wispy, elegant right fielder from the Orix Blue Wave, joined the Seattle Mariners, becoming the first Japanese-born position player in MLB history. He promptly won AL MVP and rookie of the year in his first season, helping the Mariners win 116 games. Nineteen years later, he finished his career with 3,089 hits, playing his last game at the age of 45.<\/p>\n

The numbers and accolades are only part of what made him an iconoclast. His devotion to his craft, idiosyncratic methods and dry sense of humor made him a beloved and transformational figure, a rare baseball player known solely by his first name: Ichiro.<\/p>\n

In honor of his Hall of Fame induction, we went through the archives to find our four favorite lessons from his career.<\/p>\n

1. Craft a routine, then follow it<\/p>\n

One of the first things<\/a>\u00a0Ichiro did each day at the ballpark was weigh himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the only player I ever had,\u201d said Rick Griffin, the Mariners\u2019 former head trainer, \u201cthat weighed the exact same, to the ounce, at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mariners used to measure players\u2019 body fat four times per year; Ichiro\u2019s, like clockwork, was always the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he weighed 171.8 then he would eat a little more so the next day he would come in and weigh 172,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIf he weighed 17.3, then the next day he would eat a little bit less so he would weigh 172. He did that the whole time. It was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fastidious and regimented, he distilled his day into a collection of component parts, then repeated the same cycle. Every day, he walked into the trainers\u2019 room at exactly 6:10 p.m., laid on the table and let Griffin adjust his hips and back. When the session finished, Ichiro nodded at Griffin and walked out of the room.<\/p>\n

After batting practice, he always ate seven chicken wings, prepared by Mariners team chef Jeremy Bryant. Earlier in his career, it was nine wings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came in one year and said, \u2018Chef J, I\u2019m gaining weight, so I can only have seven wings,\u2019\u201d Bryant recalled.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Ichiro\u2019s routine seemed curious. When he arrived in Seattle in the early 2000s, he kept his bats in a humidor, wiping them down after each game. On the road, he always had California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. Before day games, he skipped the wings and ate two corndogs, the cheap Costco kind. Echoing the English poet John Dryden, first Ichiro made his habits, and then his habits made him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was a 7 p.m. game, he\u2019d be there at noon,\u201d former Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t to play cards. He started preparing for a game when the previous game was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Take your job seriously \u2014 but not yourself<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve maybe heard the Derek Jeter story<\/a>. It happened while Ichiro was playing for the Yankees from 2012 to 2014.<\/p>\n

Jeter was the unquestioned leader in the Yankees clubhouse, a quiet force who led by actions and presence. The last thing anyone wanted was to mess with the king. That didn\u2019t stop people from joking about it, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe joke was always to get someone to call Derek Jeter by his middle name: Sanderson,\u201d recalled former Yankees pitcher Shawn Kelley. \u201cPeople joked and snickered, but nobody would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, the Yankees were in a smaller clubhouse on the road. Jeter waltzed in during the afternoon. Moments later, Ichiro appeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanderson!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, everybody\u2019s laughing and it\u2019s funny and Jeter just gives him the death stare and makes a little joke back,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cBut the funniest part is, Ichiro never sits still; he\u2019s always moving. He\u2019s either stretching or going somewhere, or he\u2019s working on something or studying film. You\u2019ll never see Ichiro just sitting there, but he sat there for minutes at his locker with his head down, just giggling. People were belly laughing \u2014 not at the fact that Ichiro did it, but the fact that Ichiro thought it was so funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ichiro liked to refer to Jeter as his \u201cbrother from another mother.\u201d He sometimes called an umpire \u201chome slice.\u201d He rarely spoke English in public, which allowed him to weaponize the language for comedic effect. During his rookie season in Seattle, he told Sweeney, then with the Royals, that he had a \u201cnice ass.\u201d He wrestled with Ken Griffey Jr. Once, he received a text<\/a> from a particularly famous NFL quarterback, then wandered over to the Mariners coaching staff, looking for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho the f\u2014 is Tom Brady?\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there was the time Ichiro homered off Yankees closer Marian Rivera in Seattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s rounding the bases, and as he\u2019s running home, he stops about 10 feet short of home plate, jumps, does the \u2018suck it\u2019 sign and yells, \u2018Suck it!\u2019\u201d former Mariners pitcher David Aardsma said. \u201cAnd then (he) touches home plate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ichiro Suzuki was meticulous in his preparation and discipline, but he also liked to dine and joke around with his teammates. (Darren Yamashita \/ USA Today Sports via Imagn Images)3. Be open to outsiders, then dine with them<\/p>\n

One day years ago, when former Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson lived in Texas, he visited one of his favorite restaurants, Mr. Sushi.<\/p>\n

The staff had a surprising message: Ichiro was there.<\/p>\n

Wilson didn\u2019t know him well, but sensed an opportunity. He asked the staff to pass along a message: Could he sit with him? He loved Ichiro!<\/p>\n

Which is how Wilson came to spend a meal watching Ichiro down what felt like 70 pieces of sushi as they discussed their shared love of Porsches.<\/p>\n

For teammates of Ichiro, it was a common ritual. It wasn\u2019t always easy to get to know the man behind the routine, but Ichiro seemed to take great pleasure in the simple act of dining with friends.<\/p>\n

He once hosted Sweeney and his wife Chara for a home-cooked meal in Seattle. He told his guests he wanted to play until he was 50. Sweeney believed him.<\/p>\n

One night in Atlanta, during a quiet moment in the season, Mariners pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith approached Ichiro\u2019s interpreter Ken Barron and asked if he and Ichiro wanted to join him at Applebee\u2019s that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just joking about Applebee\u2019s,\u201d Rowland-Smith said, \u201cbut I wanted to have dinner with him, but figured there was no way it\u2019d happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the game, Ichiro found Rowland-Smith and invited him to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The restaurant was cleared out; the staff lined up as they entered. For two and a half hours, they sat and ate and shared stories about baseball and their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the coolest off-the-field moments I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Rowland-Smith said.<\/p>\n

Ichiro had a knack for making connections. In the early 2000s, he befriended Buck O\u2019Neil<\/a>, the Negro Leagues legend and founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Often, he showed up at the museum on his own. He loved the stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Buck died in 2006, Ichiro sent flowers,\u201d said Bob Kendrick, president of the museum.<\/p>\n

In the latter stages of his career, his penchant for entertaining teammates did not cease. One night in Philadelphia, when Ichiro was playing for the Miami Marlins, he invited Dee Strange-Gordon to come out for a meal.<\/p>\n

It was past 10:30, and Gordon knew that most places had to be closed, but Ichiro told him not to worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, Dee, we\u2019re still going to dinner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, they showed up, and another restaurant was cleared out, set up for Ichiro and a friend to share a meal.<\/p>\n

4. Be detailed. Respect your craft<\/p>\n

Ichiro always displayed sincere reverence for his equipment. His glove always sat in the same spot. His bats were sorted, organized, polished and leaned just so.<\/p>\n

It was the exact opposite of Mariners second baseman Bret Boone, who used to return to the dugout after a half inning and toss his glove to the side. One day, Ichiro watched Boone do this and provided a frank observation:<\/p>\n

\u201cBoone,\u201d Ichiro said, \u201cyou do not respect your equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ichiro\u2019s bats were not just tools; they were an extension of himself, ordered and pristine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were nice and neat, and they got respected and they were never slammed,\u201d recalled former teammate Randy Winn. \u201cThey were never thrown. You know, now that I\u2019m thinking about it, when he hit, he may have laid the bat down gently. I\u2019ve actually never seen his bat laying in the dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once, Ichiro was playing with Eduardo Perez, who found himself in a slump and \u2014 in a moment of desperation \u2014 did the unthinkable: He went and grabbed one of Ichiro\u2019s bats and headed to the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cScrew it, man,\u201d Perez recalls thinking. \u201cI\u2019m going to take one of his bats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perez walked to the plate, dug into the box and peered toward the dugout. Ichiro was in disbelief.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis eyes opened as wide as I\u2019d ever seen them,\u201d Perez said. \u201cHe was so pissed off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perez hit a pitch off the end of the bat. It trickled up the middle for a single. He pumped his fist all the way up the line.<\/p>\n

When he returned to the dugout, Ichiro was waiting. He scribbled something on the bat, handed it to Perez and offered a begrudging sign of respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations,\u201d he said, and then walked off.<\/p>\n

To Perez, it was pure Ichiro. He was one of the most eccentric players in the history of the game \u2014 talented, mesmerizing, focused and disciplined. There was only one Ichiro.<\/p>\n

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb \/ The Athletic; Omar Rawlings \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note: This story is part of Peak, The Athletic\u2019s desk covering leadership, personal development and success through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4,62,166,65,165,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-197114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york-yankees","11":"tag-peak","12":"tag-seattle-mariners","13":"tag-sports-business","14":"tag-tampa-bay-rays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114902754141549062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}