Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗, Suzuki Ichirō, born October 22, 1973), often referred to mononymously as Ichiro (イチロー, Ichirō), is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). With 26 seasons combined in top-level professional leagues, he has spent the bulk of his career with two teams: nine seasons with the Orix Blue Wave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan, where he began his career, and 12 with the Mariners in the United States. After playing for the Mariners, he played two and a half seasons in MLB with the New York Yankees before signing with the Miami Marlins. Ichiro played three seasons with the Marlins before returning to the Mariners in 2018. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including MLB's single-season record for hits with 262. He achieved 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player in history. Between his major league career in both Japan and the United States, Ichiro has the most hits by any player in top-tier professional leagues. He also has recorded the most hits of any foreign-born player in MLB.
In his combined playing time in NPB and MLB, Ichiro has received 17 consecutive selections both as an All-Star and Gold Glove winner, won nine league batting titles and been named Most Valuable Player (MVP) four times. While playing in NPB, he won seven consecutive batting titles and three consecutive Pacific League MVP Awards. In 2001, Ichiro became the first Japanese-born position player to be posted and signed to an MLB club. He led the American League (AL) in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP.
Ichiro is the first MLB player to enter the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (The Golden Players Club). He is a ten-time MLB All-Star and won the 2007 All-Star Game MVP Award for a three-hit performance that included the event's first-ever inside-the-park home run. Ichiro won a Rawlings Gold Glove Award in each of his first ten years in the majors, and has had an American League–record seven hitting streaks of 20 or more games, with a high of 27. Ichiro also leads all active players in singles with 2,440 and in stolen bases with 508. He is also noted for his longevity, continuing to produce at a high level with batting, slugging, and on-base percentages above .300 in 2016 while approaching 43 years of age. On August 7, 2016, Ichiro notched the 3000th hit of his MLB career off Chris Rusin of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, becoming only the 30th player ever to do so. In total he has over 4,300 hits in his career.
