Ichiro suzuki biography japan career

Ichiro Suzuki was born October 22, , in Kasugai, Japan. Ichiro's father had played baseball in high school, and wanted him to play baseball. Ichiro was given his first baseball and glove after his third birthday. At the age of six, Ichiro played under an assumed name on the Little League team coached by his father, who taught him discipline and humility. In elementary school, his father practiced with him up to four hours a day. Ichiro was an outstanding student who was chosen to play in Japan's National High School Baseball Tournament, known as Koshien. In high school he was a pitcher, though he excelled as a hitter as well. To get stronger, Ichiro would throw car tires and attempt to hit wiffle balls with heavy shovels. Despite his success, Japanese scouts were discouraged by his small size (he was 5’ 9” and weighed pounds). Nevertheless, he was drafted by the Orix Blue Wave, in Japan's Pacific League, as an outfielder. Ichiro quickly became one of the bes

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