Ichiro is definition of sui generis

We usually wait for milestones to salute excellence, but every now and then it's worth just pausing to admire some athlete who is sui generis, who does

Frank Deford | Sep 1, 2010

Ichiro is definition of sui generis /

We usually wait for milestones to salute excellence, but every now and then it's worth just pausing to admire some athlete who is sui generis, who does something spectacular, but does it day after week after year. So, like that, may we now sing the praises of Ichiro Suzuki as he completes his tenth season in American baseball.

No, it is not as if Ichiro is ignored, unsung. He's not only been an MVP, he's made the All-Star team every season, and he holds the major-league record with nine straight 200-hit seasons. But then, Ichiro is on a losing team in Seattle, he hasn't appeared in the postseason in nine years, and he plays out there, or up there, in what most of the media considers (with a bow to Dan Jenkins) Baja Yukon.

The fact is, though, Ichiro is probably better at the task of putting a bat on a pitched ball than anyone in history . . . only at a time when home runs and then pitching have been fashionable. What he does is like singing Gilbert and Sullivan when everybody is listening to rock.

If he were a basketball player, Ichiro would be shooting set shots. If he were a football player, he would be drop-kicking. Ichiro just brings the bat around, raises his leg and pivots in his peculiar fashion, and then he makes contact and sends the ball to an empty place. If he isn't injured, he will easily reach 200 hits again this season. Only Pete Rose did that 10 times, and it took him 17 years. Ichiro will be 10-for-10.

He has 2.200 hits in our major leagues. He had 1,400 hits in the Japanese majors. In case you want to suggest that he feasted on weak pitching over there, well, Ichiro actually averages more hits per game here than he did in Japan. He just hits pitchers.

Ichiro produces a little more than one-and-a-third hits per game, whoever is pitching, wherever, whatever time of day. Altogether, at age 36, he has more than 3.600 hits, about 600 fewer than Rose's American record. Since he's in top shape, Ichiro will probably play long enough to end up with a total of 5,000 safe hits in major-league play.

And, of course, Ichiro is a significant cultural figure. As the first Japanese position player and Japan's first big star to jump to the U.S., he opened up the American game to Asians, made our National Pastime truly worldwide . . . even if he can't ever play in a World Series.

Our provincial Hall of Fame does not recognize Japanese baseball stars, like Sadaharu Oh, the home-run champion. Ah, but they can't keep Ichiro out of Cooperstown. No, maybe he's not the best player of his era, but, then, he may be better at what he does best than any other athlete of his time. And he made an international difference.

So, today, simply: Arigato, Ichiro-san.

Published Sep 1, 2010

FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.