Five-tool superstar burst onto scene and built a model career in Seattle

PEORIA, Ariz. -- He is sitting at his locker in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse, laughing at times and gesturing while entertaining a flock of Japanese reporters who seek a daily State of Ichiro briefing for their news outlets. He grabs a Sharpie and starts in on several dozen boxes of baseballs with a script that you could never decipher as "Ichiro" while simultaneously continuing the dialogue.

There is a perpetual buzz around Ichiro Suzuki.

He receives numerous requests for interviews, commercials, and personal appearances, which are carefully considered by his handlers and interpreter Ken Barron, who puts time limits on each interview and often recommends what might be off-limits to the temperamental superstar that day.

Since surging onto the American baseball scene in 2001 at age 27 following nine seasons with the Orix Blue Wave of the Japanese Pacific League, Ichiro has been the most successful Japanese player in major league history. There is a consistency to his game that is unparalleled in Japan or in the United States. Some say he's the modern-day Wade Boggs, but with speed and Gold Glove ability in the outfield.

Likely a coveted free agent after the season, Ichiro has warned the Mariners, who have finished last in the American League West for three straight seasons, to put together a competitive team or he'll go somewhere where he can experience winning.

Ichiro was the first major player to take advantage of the posting system, the agreement between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball that allows Japanese teams to profit from losing a player to a US team in a blind bidding process. The Mariners bid $14 million to acquire his services. It's turned out to be an excellent investment.

In his first six major league seasons, he's amassed a .331 average (after hitting .353 in Japan), won two batting titles, an MVP and Rookie of the Year award (both in 2001), had six consecutive 200-hit seasons (including a major league-record 262 hits in 2004), and been awarded six Gold Gloves -- all while playing right field except the final 39 games of last season, when he switched to center.

Nobody really knew how good Ichiro would be when he launched his American dream. He struggled in his first camp, but shot out of the gate as soon as the 2001 season began.

As his successes mounted, he became a role model for Japanese players. But he never thought of himself that way.

"I have no control over what people think of me," he said. "If that's how I'm portrayed that's fine, but it's not something I seek out. If players ask me for advice I will gladly help them and give them my knowledge, but it wouldn't be right for me to force my opinion or advice on some other player without them asking me for it."

He's been just as successful in the major leagues as he was in Japan because he's such a unique player, blessed with speed, a strong arm, and a tremendous eye.

"What goes unsaid a lot of times about him is that now that he's playing center field, he has an arm second to none," Mariners bench coach John McLaren said. "One thing which we'll benefit from is that you won't see as much first-to-third on a hit to center. Normally that's a given for a runner. It's not a given when he fields the ball as quickly as he does and comes up firing. That saves runs."

Ichiro's hitting style makes people marvel at his discipline and off-the-charts hand-eye coordination. "He runs to hit," said Boggs. "When you're 3.4 seconds to first base and you try to pitch him away and he hits the ball to the shortstop hole, he's going to be safe 100 percent of the time. When I was over at Tampa Bay we tried all kinds of different things like pitching him away and he'd find a way to beat you.

"He's really unique. You'd think with that stance he would be susceptible to off-speed stuff, breaking pitches, changeups, splits, but he's not. You just have to throw away the scouting report against him. It's like he's paddling the ball. Like he's playing cricket."

Don Baylor was his hitting coach in Seattle for one season, but he had known Ichiro for many years dating to the late '90s, when he traveled to Japan with a team of major league All-Stars.

"I just remember he was a rock star over there," recalled Baylor. "I remember the teenage girls showing up with their cameras and autograph books at the Tokyo Dome to get a glimpse of him. But I also remember his talent and ability. Off the charts. I remember in his first spring training he was hitting everything to third base and Lou Piniella telling him he had to pull the ball. But Ichiro stuck to what he did and has made a tremendous career out of it."

Could he have hit home runs?

"A lot like Boggs that way," Baylor said. "He could have hit 25-30 homers a season and probably not lost much in the way of average. But Ichiro prefers to punch the ball through the hole or beat out an infield hit. That's what he does."

Baylor also thought Ichiro could have been the next Rickey Henderson because "if he goes 100 times he'd probably be safe 99 times. He's so fast. There'd be a bad call or two and he'd be out, but he never wanted to push the Henderson envelope even though he could have been a premier base stealer."

When it comes to working out, Ichiro is off the charts. So much so that former teammate Joel Pineiro describes Ichiro's stretching as "ridiculous. He's like a contortionist. There's no way any normal human being can stretch his body like he does. I think many of us have tried, but to be honest, we'd all hurt ourselves if we tried what he does every day to get ready for a baseball game.

"He's a very good teammate. He cares about winning and he's not happy when we lose and we lost a lot over there the past few years. He certainly more than did his part. Nobody in the game can touch what he's accomplished out on the field."

As a huge celebrity in Japan, it's no wonder his television series "Ichiro Versus" is a hit entering its second season. In the show he matches wits against a well-known figure from far-ranging disciplines such as stage, fashion, science, or law.

According to a story in the Seattle Times, Ichiro said of his show, "The world is filled with different sensibilities. There's a sensation that comes from interacting with people outside your normal profession. If you limit yourself just to the sensibilities that are familiar to you, then you can't achieve self-development. For that reason, I think it's important to come in contact with people from as many different walks of life as possible. Otherwise, you limit what you can experience and you end up stifling your growth potential."

Like his batting stance, Ichiro never stays in one place. After our interview he was taping a one-hour television interview. Always moving.