Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he's much more than that in Japan. Back home, he's a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan's economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

Ichiro Suzuki is the Japanese Zen master who was so dedicated to baseball that he carried his bats in a moisture-proof case and apologised to their creator when he broke one."In Japan we take care of our instruments,

Ichiro Suzuki is unquestionably one of the best baseball players ever to grace this planet. His 3,089 hits compiled throughout his career ranks as 25th on Major League Baseball's all-time list. He was a 10-time All-Star and a 10-time Gold Glove winner through his 19-year career.