iStockphoto / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
Seattle Mariners special assistant to the chairman Ichiro Suzuki looks on before the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Peoria Sports Complex, next to a stock image of a girls' baseball game.
You don’t become one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history without having an incredible competitive drive, and Ichiro Suzuki recently taught that difficult lesson to a group of young girls in a high school baseball All-Star Game in his native Japan.
The 52-year-old was asked to pitch against a collection of the best young girls the country had to offer, and he showed them absolutely no mercy.
The Seattle Mariners legend threw a 127-pitch complete-game shutout, striking out 17 hitters in the process.
Ichiro Suzuki Dominated Girls High School Baseball All-Star Game
According to a report from the Seattle Times, Ichiro told local reporters in Japan that “I wanted to see what my current limits were, and this gave me confidence in myself.”
That’s certainly one way to do that!
On the one hand, those girls should be flattered. They got a chance to try and test themselves against one of the greatest players who have ever lived (even if he wasn’t a pitcher. On the other hand, you do sort of feel like he may have ruined their All-Star Game just a little, right?
Although he did surrender a pair of hits in the game, so those young women probably have an absolutely incredible memory. The game also featured former Yankees legend Hideki Matsui.
The legendary right fielder for the Mariners was famed for his incredible arm in the outfield, so you have to imagine he was throwing absolute heat from the mound. This is just the latest reminder that Ichiro is one of the coolest baseball players of all time, even if it came at the expense of some poor, unwitting high school girls.