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FC/OT: Congratulations to Ichiro Suzuki!

Midnighter

Midnighter

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First Japanese born player elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Received 99.7% of the vote - one lone holdout. Whoever that person is should have to come forward and defend their position, which is impossible and their voting privileges should be revoked. Idiot.

www.cbssports.com

Who didn't vote for Ichiro Suzuki on Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? Lone holdout could remain anonymous

Suzuki was elected to the Hall with 99.7% of the vote
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

 
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Bison13

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It is amazing that he did not go in unanimously. Same with Jeter (missed by 1) and Griffey JR (missed by 3). Many of these sanctimonious old sports writers think they are bigger than baseball and do stuff like this because they are petty little turds. Same idea as when they wont vote for certain people on their first ballot, if they are worthy, they are worthy each year.

Who ever it is should have their voting rights taken away
 
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StamfordBridgeVikingatLeftOffensiveTackle

StamfordBridgeVikingatLeftOffensiveTackle

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Bison13 said:
It is amazing that he did not go in unanimously. Same with Jeter (missed by 1) and Griffey JR (missed by 3). Many of these sanctimonious old sports writers think they are bigger than baseball and do stuff like this because they are petty little turds. Same idea as when they wont vote for certain people on their first ballot, if they are worthy, they are worthy each year.

Who ever it is should have their voting rights taken away
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Willie Mays wasn't a unanimous selection.
 
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WestSideLion

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That’s a crazy list, Midnighter. Think about Ichiro’s hit totals if he started MLB at say 21-22.

It’s likely been mentioned, but when MLB started counting Negro League stats toward All Time records, why not open things up to Japan and other leagues? I believe Ichiro totaled something close to 4400 hits across both leagues. And with MLB’s disdain for Pete Rose, this is one way to bump him out of the record books.
 
LionJim

LionJim

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WestSideLion said:
That’s a crazy list, Midnighter. Think about Ichiro’s hit totals if he started MLB at say 21-22.

It’s likely been mentioned, but when MLB started counting Negro League stats toward All Time records, why not open things up to Japan and other leagues? I believe Ichiro totaled something close to 4400 hits across both leagues. And with MLB’s disdain for Pete Rose, this is one way to bump him out of the record books.
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The thing about the Negro League stats is that those players were absolutely MLB-level, no one can dispute that. The Japanese leagues, you had players who aged out of MLB going to Japan, so that’s evidence of Japan having a weaker league. That’s just my two cents, am not prepared to die on this hill.
 
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1995PSUGrad

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Midnighter said:
First Japanese born player elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Received 99.7% of the vote - one lone holdout. Whoever that person is should have to come forward and defend their position, which is impossible and their voting privileges should be revoked. Idiot.

www.cbssports.com

Who didn't vote for Ichiro Suzuki on Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? Lone holdout could remain anonymous

Suzuki was elected to the Hall with 99.7% of the vote
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

Click to expand...
Maybe it's the same guy who didn't vote for Derek Jeter! That's a crime.
 
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ApexLion

ApexLion

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An argument can be made that Ichiro is the best baseball player ever due to his abilities in all categories offensively and defensively. The game looked easy when he played it.
 
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WestSideLion

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LionJim said:
The thing about the Negro League stats is that those players were absolutely MLB-level, no one can dispute that. The Japanese leagues, you had players who aged out of MLB going to Japan, so that’s evidence of Japan having a weaker league. That’s just my two cents, am not prepared to die on this hill.
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There are parallels. Not all Negro League players were MLB quality. Just like in Japan.

Ichiro proved in MLB that he was among the very best ever. I think even stretching his MLB averages another 5-7 years mirrors his career totals across both leagues.

How can one credibly argue he wouldn’t have 4000+ hits given that extra time?
 
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Bvillebaron

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Midnighter said:
First Japanese born player elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Received 99.7% of the vote - one lone holdout. Whoever that person is should have to come forward and defend their position, which is impossible and their voting privileges should be revoked. Idiot.

www.cbssports.com

Who didn't vote for Ichiro Suzuki on Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? Lone holdout could remain anonymous

Suzuki was elected to the Hall with 99.7% of the vote
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

Click to expand...
Willie Mays and Hank Aaron weren’t unanimous selections either. Given that somehow I just can’t get all worked up
about Jeter and Ichiro not being unanimous selections
 
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LionJim

LionJim

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ApexLion said:
An argument can be made that Ichiro is the best baseball player ever due to his abilities in all categories offensively and defensively. The game looked easy when he played it.
Click to expand...
He was really terrific. Wagner was the same way. How many others? Mays for sure. Barry Bonds was ungodly talented. Ichiro didn’t have all that much power, as I recall. Amirite?
 
MtNittany

MtNittany

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Bvillebaron said:
Willie Mays and Hank Aaron weren’t unanimous selections either. Given that somehow I just can’t get all worked up
about Jeter and Ichiro not being unanimous selections
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I'm surprised the writers let Ted Williams slip through their never-played-the-game fingers.
 
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MrTailgate

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If Gary Sheffield had a vote, Ichiro would have missed on that ballot as well. When Ichiro set the single season hit record, Sheff made the statement that he went to the plate attempting to hit the ball hard and to hit it out of the park. He commented that if all you want to do is hit singles, it’s not that hard. He ended by saying he wasn’t impressed.

Ichiro was a strange dude. He took OCD to absurd levels and wasn’t the nicest guy with the Japanese press to put it mildly. You can google his workout regimen, it’s beyond obsessive.

If he had played his whole career here, I think he would have taken a real run at hitting .400.
 
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manatree

manatree

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WestSideLion said:
There are parallels. Not all Negro League players were MLB quality. Just like in Japan.
Click to expand...

And not all MLB players were MLB once integration got rolling.

LionJim said:
He was really terrific. Wagner was the same way. How many others? Mays for sure. Barry Bonds was ungodly talented. Ichiro didn’t have all that much power, as I recall. Amirite?
Click to expand...

A lot of his teammates insist that he could have been a consistent 30-40 HR guy if he had been asked to.
 
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Midnighter

Midnighter

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manatree said:
And not all MLB players were MLB once integration got rolling.



A lot of his teammates insist that he could have been a consistent 30-40 HR guy if he had been asked to.
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Yes - heard Seattle coaches say he effortlessly belted HRs like crazy in BP; but, as you stated, he wasn’t asked to be that guy.
 
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ApexLion

ApexLion

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Midnighter said:
Yes - heard Seattle coaches say he effortlessly belted HRs like crazy in BP; but, as you stated, he wasn’t asked to be that guy.
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117 isn't bad for a leadoff

Joe Maddon, longtime opposing manager with Rays and Cubs (and bench coach for Angels in 2001): "I really believe that he could look at the field and decide where he wanted to hit the ball and then he would hit it in a manner that would fall in front of outfielders. Although he had pop in his bat, he knew how to just hit it over infielders -- almost like his bat was a fungo -- and as if the pitcher was just tossing it up in the air and he would hit it somewhere; it was just really maddening to defend it."
 
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ApexLion

ApexLion

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Joe Girardi, manager with Yankees, 2012 to 2014: "My favorite Ichiro story is actually when he played with the Mariners against us. I remember him taking Mariano Rivera deep [a walk-off] in a game, throwing the cutter inside and it getting hit. He had the ability to pull his hands inside and hit the ball out of the ballpark. And when you would watch him take BP, he hit ball after ball after ball out. But he knew his game was getting on base and stealing bases. So he never tried to be something that he wasn't. The ground that he covered was incredible and people just didn't run on him, or he probably would've had a lot more assists. And it's a guy that had over 500 stolen bases. So I don't know if he could really ask a player to do much more."
 
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MrTailgate

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Midnighter said:
Yes - heard Seattle coaches say he effortlessly belted HRs like crazy in BP; but, as you stated, he wasn’t asked to be that guy.
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Long ago in a galaxy far far away, Cobb one time hit 3 HR’s in a game to showcase that he could do it. Cobb associated baseball with strategic warfare and viewed the HR as the end of the sweet science of hitting.

I always said that they put a little more of Ruth into Henderson and a little more of Cobb into Ichiro.
 
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Bvillebaron

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ApexLion said:
An argument can be made that Ichiro is the best baseball player ever due to his abilities in all categories offensively and defensively. The game looked easy when he played it.
Click to expand...
Ohtani says hold my beer. What was Ichiro’s lifetime ERA and won/loss record?
 
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