SAN FRANCISCO — There’s one memory that instantly comes to mind when Bob Melvin reflects on the two years he managed Ichiro Suzuki.
It was May 2003, and the Seattle Mariners were in Chicago playing the White Sox. The Mariners’ front office told Melvin that Suzuki, who was hovering around 160 pounds, needed off days. So, following the first game of the three-game set, Melvin told Suzuki that he’d have the second game off.
“He just looked at me,” Melvin said. “I said, ‘Look, come in late, get a massage, do whatever you have to do. I’m not going to need you until the seventh or eighth inning.’ ”
The next day arrived. When Melvin walked into the visitor’s dugout roughly 20 minutes before the game, there sat Suzuki in full uniform with his bat and his glove. In Melvin’s recollection, Suzuki’s knee was “going about 100 miles an hour.” Melvin asked Suzuki what he was doing; Suzuki replied that he was ready to go. As they chatted, a kid walked by in the stands wearing Suzuki’s jersey.
“Ichiro just kind of nodded, and I got it,” Melvin said. “Not only is he a great baseball player that commits to playing every day and wants to be there for his team every day. He understood that he was an entertainer, and people came to watch him play. He took that very seriously.”
Suzuki, who finished with 4,367 hits between Japan and the United States, will be one of five players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday, the other four being Vallejo native CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner and former Oakland Athletics Dave Parker and Dick Allen.
Melvin had a front-row seat to Suzuki at his peak, serving as the Mariners’ manager in ’03 and ’04 during his first gig as a major-league skipper.
“He was the lowest maintenance player I’ve ever had in my life,” Melvin said. “All you had to do was tell him what time the game was, and he was as prepared as any player that I’ve ever had. He was committed to baseball like no player that I’ve ever had.”
Among those watching Suzuki during his prime were Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee and reliever Ryan Walker, the former wearing No. 51 to honor Suzuki.
“His discipline, even as a kid, stuck out,” said Walker, who grew up 50 miles north of Seattle. “When you’re so young, you don’t really notice that, but with him, there was something different. The work he put in every day, you could just see it. As a kid, that was pretty motivating. No one else is on the field, but there’s Ichiro on the warning track running poles. He really took the game seriously.”
Added Lee through team interpreter Justin Han: “He’s the first ever Asian player to be elected. Big fan. … If you talk about career, everybody knows what Ichiro has done. His attitude and his love to the game aren’t things that everybody can do.”
Walker’s father, Mark, was among those in attendance at Safeco Field on October 1, 2004 when Suzuki broke George Sisler’s record for the most hits in a single season. Also in attendance was Melvin, who was in his second and final year managing the Mariners.
Suzuki began that legendary ’04 season with a slow April, ending the season’s first month with a .255 batting average and .613 OPS. From there, Suzuki proceeded to hit .392 with a .912 OPS en route to breaking Sisler’s record.
“It felt like he got two or three hits every game,” Melvin said. “He was on a mission. Once he got close, you knew he was going to break it. His preparation and what he does never alters. He works every day. He continues to work right now as a baseball player. He takes batting practice. He throws with the guys every day. He just loves baseball probably more than any player that I’ve ever had.”
Melvin and third baseman Matt Chapman also had the opportunity to witness the final game of Suzuki’s illustrious career when the Oakland A’s played two games against the Mariners at the Tokyo Dome in March 2019.
“The place felt like it was going to collapse,” Chapman said. “It was so loud. It was awesome. It was really cool to be a part of that. Obviously, it’s well-deserved for him to be a Hall of Famer.”
“He told me before that that was going to happen, how it was going to all go down,” Melvin said. “We had dinner two nights before in Tokyo. I was just honored to be there. I don’t know that there’s an induction that I’m going to be watching closer than this one.”
Originally Published: July 26, 2025 at 4:18 PM PDT
