Ichiro: 3 singles, but double steals show
Ichiro Suzuki has a Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP, 10 Gold Gloves, an arm like this, a position player pitching performance like that and a pop song in his honor. After Monday night's vintage performance, he's now just 23 MLB hits shy of 3,000. And, on top of that, his combined 4,255 hits in NPB and MLB have him just one behind Pete Rose's Major League record of 4,256.
So, there are bound to be some impersonators out there. People want to be like him. I want to be like him.
And during the Marlins' 13-4 win over the Padres on Monday at Petco Park, a lookalike was spotted copying the master's style right before he delivered his 2,975th hit:
Ichiro would later collect two more singles, score two runs, drive in an RBI and draw two walks, because he is an ageless magician who will continue pumping out base hits until the end of time.
"I think just the people that are watching are the ones that are really thinking about it," Ichiro said through his interpreter, referring to his historic hit total. "I'm just out there doing what I need to do and what I can do."
The impersonator also did a quick interview during the game -- saying he's been mimicking his hero since the age of 11 and once ran into him in at a Japanese restaurant:
