Notice that isn’t a question. It’s really a shame. Even more of a shame considering that it seems he may not be the player he was in 2010 anymore. Father time seems to have taken away the infield hit that put him in a class by himself. Maybe he has one or two bounce back years in him. Let’s hope so because I believe that Ichiro may be the most depressing example of a career completely and totally misused in the history of professional sports.
His talents and contributions have been for not in Seattle. This is partly because he has been miscast. He should be the supporting actor and not the lead. The final piece of the puzzle. Not the main man on the roster. The only season in which he was used properly was 2001. His rookie season. Before Seattle truly knew what they had in him. He was the catalyst for a team that won 116 games. Think about that! One-hundred-and-sixteen games. Even more impressive is they only lost 46. He was the toast of the league. And since then he has been nothing short of spectacular. Even his less than Ichiro like 2011 was a decent year. He did get over 180 hits and stole over 40 bases. A feat only accomplished by two other players.
For most people getting 200 hits in a season is impossible. Even the great ones have a hard time of doing it more than once or twice. He made a habit out of doing it every single year. And that’s the problem. He is so good at what he does that Seattle has made him the player to build around. He is a genius at hitting a baseball. His art is getting on base and stealing a base. I have personally witnessed a game in which he led off the first with a single and promptly swiped second and third before scoring on a ground-out to the shortstop. He wins Gold Gloves every year not because of reputation but because he rarely makes a mistake and has a cannon for an arm. He just shouldn’t be the player that is expected to carry a team. Put him on the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cardinals and here is what you’d have: A player who would hit .335 and score 150 plus runs a year. Every year. I’m sure if he had been on any of those teams for the past ten years-they would have won more World Series titles than what they have. Maybe add two more to each of them. He would be the missing ingredient for the perfect meal. His career would be looked on much differently.
There is a large number of the population who view him as a disappointment in the Seattle area. They will comment on the fact that he should steal more bases, hit more home runs, take more bases on balls, or crash into the wall now and then. That all comes back to the fact that he is so good at what he does that people assume he can do more. That’s why he has been wasted.
Here is what he has done. He had ten straight 200 hit seasons. In 10 out of 11 years he has, at least, 30 stolen bases. He has hit over .300 in every season except 2011 including four years of .350 or better. He has the all-time single season hits record. Ten straight Gold Gloves. Think he wouldn’t have been good in the playoffs? In the ten games he has played in post-season he has hit to the tune of .421! What a shame that he hasn’t been surrounded by the proper talent to take advantage of his skills. He wouldn’t have been asked to do more than what he is capable of doing in Beantown or the Bronx…he would have just been the most amazing hitter of his generation. He would have been the guy they carried off on their shoulders every October. He would have been celebrated in a way that only the absolute greatest players are. He would have been Johnny Damon and Brett Butler combined. Instead, he is on a very bad baseball team year in and year out. That is a waste of a career if I’ve ever heard of one. And that is a waste not of his making.
Shame on you Seattle. Think back to that season of 2001. That should have been the start of something special. There should have been more of those seasons. And there would have been in just about any other city in the major leagues. I hope Ichiro can find his groove again in 2012. Maybe he can go elsewhere after this year and get his 3,000th hit in another uniform and maybe contribute to a World Series winner. Maybe Seattle will then see what they took for granted for ten amazing years. Ten years that may be the best display of pure hitting in the history of baseball.