Ichiro Suzuki broke his bat plenty of times during his 19 years in the major leagues. However, he probably didn’t think his bat would break on his statue.
Owing either to faulty craftsmanship or an overexuberance in pulling back the tarp, or both, the bat snapped on MLB legend Ichiro Suzuki’s bat as the Mariners were unveiling his statue outside T-Mobile Park on Friday.
“The bronze statue, sculpted by Chicago artist Lou Cella, depicts Suzuki in his signature pose while preparing to hit, with his right arm extended while holding his bat and tugging on his sleeve with his left hand,” Yahoo Sports wrote.
The Mariners were not immune to laughing at themselves over the incident.
Suzuki himself also poked fun at the incident and even offered a possible explanation.
“I didn’t think Mariano would come out here and break the bat,” Suzuki said through a translator in reference to legendary hard-throwing Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who made a name for himself breaking the bats of Ichiro and many others.
Suzuki is a 2025 inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025. Over the course of his nearly 20-year MLB career, he snagged MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, was named to the All-Star team ten times, collected 10 Golden Gloves, and three Silver Slugger awards.
