Ichiro quotes of awesomeness
msb emailed us these PI quotes
When Kenji Johjima stole third base without drawing a throw Tuesday night, the Red Sox weren’t the only ones he caught off guard.
McLaren and the coaching staff were equally surprised.
“I thought I saw the green light,” Johjima said of his first steal of third in two-plus seasons.
Hearing that, center fielder Ichiro Suzuki, sitting next to Johjima in the clubhouse Wednesday afternoon, chuckled.
“Yellow light,” Ichiro said, drawing a smile from Johjima.
And his recollection of Bret Boone
“I don’t know if it’s a good memory or a bad one,” Ichiro Suzuki said. “But when I first came over to play in the United States, I had had a few teammates from the U.S. who had played on my team in Japan. So I had somewhat of an idea of what American players would be like.
“But when I met him, he was kind of a human being that you would never meet in Japan. So, whenever I was around him, I almost felt like I was witnessing a creature, not a human being. It was fun for me to watch him.”
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“Yellow Light.”
Awesome…
I read the whole Boone piece…God I loved it when he was here…one of my favorites of all time…and ICHIRO! saying he was a creature is money…
Ichiro is an enigma wrapped in a mystery surrounded by a hilarious crunchy coating.
From further down in the same column as the Boone piece:
Classic.
I love the Tigers 😀
Boone’s probably the guy who taught Ichiro that line about Kansas City in August, too.
Good for Kenji, by the way. Edgar always used to try to steal one base a year just so teams wouldn’t take him for granted.
That is very funny. We really need Ichi-balls in the AS game. VOTE ICHIRO ’08
I wonder how confused Ichiro was at first to be in close proximity to a teammate who constantly referred to himself in the third person.
Ahh, Boone. Never really had a chance to go out on his own terms. Hope he’s adjusting to life, now.
Hooray for quotes of awesomeness!!!!
#3: Wow, Carlos Guillen can now be mentioned in the same light as George Brett.
sounds like it — last night Valle was asked about Boone, and he said “he was just as cocky when he came up as a rookie, and it was hilarious”
The man is on fire of late.
Someone buy that centerfielder a South Pacific Lager.
I think one of the greatest Ichiro quotes of all time was in his interview with Bob Costas.
Costas asks Ichiro, “What’s your favorite American expression?”
Ichiro smiles and chuckles all-knowingly and then responds,
“August in Kansas City it is hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock.”
“That’s my favorite.”
“I have a bad teammate.”
The teammate who taught him this was, indeed, The Boone.
@Doc Baseball, I think that may be the funniest thing I’ve ever read in my long years.
he was kind of a human being that you would never meet in Japan. So, whenever I was around him, I almost felt like I was witnessing a creature, not a human being.
That’s a veiled steroid reference, right?
Hope he’s adjusting to life, now.
Of course he is. From the commercials we already know from he spends his time at home doing the bat flip with his rake, his toothbrush, his phone…
No, it’s a veiled “Boone is a crazy, egotistical, sunovabitch that is fun to watch” reference.
This is all just practice for Ichiro as he prepares for his next career — stand-up comedian.
Oh my God, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard at my desk as I just did watching that Ichiro/Costas clip.
L-freaking-O-L. That’s like saying Bon Jovi’s time off lead to his new album sucking.
That obviously only applies to Proven Vets. They think nothing of doing that to their hot hitting minor leaguers….
(Assuming that there was something there to begin with….)
I can only hope that someday Ichiro will have a published book of quotes to sit along side my Yoggi Berra book. He really does come up with some gems, and I get the feeling that they would sound equally amazing in Japanese.
+Personally, I believe ICHIRO!’s next career will involve welcoming aliens to Earth. There is more to this #51 than the human public is allowed to know about.
Or….
Maybe he will be fighting them off.
Hey sealclubber253 – you may be in luck!
Check out “Baseball Is Just Baseball”: The Understated Ichiro: An Unauthorized Collection Compiled by David Shields
From the Amazon page:
Ichiro Suzuki, the rookie All-Star right fielder for the Seattle Mariners has the sports world transfixed. Author David Shields …. was entranced by what Ichiro said–his smart, subtle words. The result is Baseball Is Just Baseball: The Understated Ichiro, a 120-page quote book of Ichiro in his own words.
You know what would be really interesting?
To listen in on a conversation between Ichiro and Manny trapped in an elevator together.
Manny Being Manny meets Ichi-isms.
Ichiro is Japanese Jesus.
There are several websites with Ichiro! quotes.
One of my favorite of his quotes is, “In response to what he listens for when he taps a new bat and puts it to his ear: “The sounds.””
I can just see him saying it with a dead straight face, thinking, “What, do you think I talk to pixies in the wood?” (Actually, that’s what I really believe.)
I don’t think an elevator with both Manny and Ichiro in it would dare get stuck. It would slide down the building in a surprisingly fast and casually effortless manner (high-fiving the occasional floor as it goes).
Now a conversation between Ichiro and Yogi, that would be something (“quip quip quip, malaprop malaprop malaprop, it’s the Ichi and Yogi show!” I can’t remember: is Ichi the mouse or the cat?)
He’s like MLB’s Charles Barkley sometmes.
Weren’t we talking about Boone. Worst Mariner of all-time. He led the league in warning track bat flips.
He was 2nd to Clemens in the league for married men dragging 19 year olds into his VIP room.
I flippin hate that bat flip.
Plus he’s college buddies with Cirillo. I forgot about Cirillo, now I’m drinking even faster.
Cirillo took me to a game when he was still in the minors (September) at the Kingdome when I was ten. He asked me if I wanted to meet Brett Boone and get his autograph. I said no.
That pretty much sums up his career considering how big a baseball fan I was/am.
That Costas – Ichiro clip is classic.
Now, I wonder if I play that on my phone sitting at Safeco, will some offended fan call an usher and throw me out? Won’t they have to throw out Ichiro, too?
After all, their family friendly policy has to be consistent.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m not even a M’s fan and you got me to buy a book of Ichiro quotes. Probably had something to do with the generally good vibe and sense of humor of the site. Oh, and also that the book is available for 22 cents from amazon resellers — so go buy yours today!
After watching the Ichiro-Costas clip, I ended up youtubing around and saw the old Junior “Human Cloning” commercial. I’m now officially on-board with the “Bring back Griffey” bandwagon. It won’t help the team a damned bit, but at this point I’ve given up hope of that. And if we can’t have good baseball, we can at least have good commericals again.
I’m thinking Griffey and Ichiro talking about how to crash into walls while still looking good. And they really ought to work “yellow light” into next year’s spots somehow.
Hmmm,
Kenji steals a base after a mixup of signals. Manager-to-be-named-in-the-offseason is exasperated in the dugout between inningins.
MANAGER: Kenji, you’ve been here long enough to know the signs. That was a yellow light.
KENJI: I’ve been studying your culture very carfully. I know all the signts. “Red light” means stop. “Green light” means go. “Yellow light” means go very fast.
Kenji is not Starman!
Kenji is not Starman!
Prove it.
any one seen Karen Allen hanging around the ballpark?