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Ichiro Suzuki spent the first 14 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Mariners, and the team commissioned a statue in his honor that was unveiled outside T-Mobile Park on Friday. However, it was damaged before it was fully revealed thanks to the bat that broke as the curtain was being pulled back.
Close to a dozen pitchers hailing from Japan had suited up for a Major League Baseball team before Ichiro Suzuki made his debut with the Mariners in 2001. In doing so, he became the first position player to play in an MLB game while ushering in what was easily the most successful career of anyone born in that country prior to the arrival of Shohei Ohtani.
The man most people simply referred to as “Ichiro” started and ended his 19-year career with a Seattle team he initially spent 12 seasons with prior to stints with the Yankees and Marlins.
He reunited with them in 2018 for two more campaigns before hanging up his cleats and retiring as a 10-time All-Star, the record holder for hits in one season (262 in 2004), and one of just 33 players who’ve had more than 3,000 hits over the course of their career (he currently sits in 25th on the all-time list).
In 2025, Ichiro was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by a near-unanimous vote the first year he was eligible. As was the case with Derek Jeter, he would have appeared on 100% of the ballots and joined Mariano Rivera as the only man to do so if not for the single anonymous voter who left him off theirs.
He was further immortalized this year by the Mariners with his very own statue, but things took a turn for the worse when the world got its first glimpse at it.
The bat on the Ichiro Suzuki statue the Mariners commissioned broke as it was being unveiled
Many MLB teams honor franchise legends with statues outside of their stadium, and the Mariners had previously given Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr. that treatment with the monuments that have been erected outside of T-Mobile Park.
On Friday, Ichiro (who had his No. 51 retired by the franchise last year) officially joined their ranks during the ceremony that was held outside the ballpark. The people who gathered there were the first ones to lay eyes on the statue that was designed by Lou Cella, which features the longtime leadoff hitter with his right arm extended while perpetually frozen in the middle of his signature preswing routine.
However, Cella will have to get back to work, as the bat the bronze Ichiro is holding pulled a Legally Blonde by bending and snapping as the covering was being pulled back.
The formal unveiling of Ichiro Suzuki’s statue here at T-Mobile Park, with the reveal featuring Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and John Stanton. pic.twitter.com/fcacaAtpYY
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) April 10, 2026
Ichiro took the opportunity to crack the perfect joke while alluding to Rivera’s cutter, the deadly pitch that created a lumber graveyard due to the number of batters the closer jammed up during his career.
According to Fox13, the Mariners plan to fix the statue “as soon as possible,” but it seems like fans will get to see the marred version when Seattle hosts the Astros on Friday night.