2010, Yukan Fuji – Robert Whiting
Dear Mr. Whiting:
As you know I recently passed my 10th consecutive MLB season of achieving 200 hits, which tied a record held by Pete Rose. Many people in the American media have been comparing me to Pete Rose, since then. Some say he was superior because he won more championships, was a more aggressive player with his head first slides and such and was a real leader,, etc. etc. etc.. Rose himself says my hit total of over 3,500 in both the P.L. and A.L.(which I achieved faster than he did, by the way) is meaningless because I played seven years in Japan, which he says is AAA. Frankly, I don’t really care. Rose comes from an older generation. That was then. This is now. But still, I am curious about your opinion. You and Rose are the same age. You have followed both our careers. You have seen both of us play. What do you think?
Ichiro Suzuki
Dear Ichiro:
Frankly, I think Rose is an idiot with a big mouth. He doesn’t know what he is talking about. I remember talking to Leron Lee, who played for Cleveland, San Diego and Lotte, back in the 70’s and 80’s who told me that the pitching in the Japanese leagues was so good that he thought that Pete Rose himself would have a difficult time hitting .300 in Japan. “I would like to see Pete come to Japan,” said Lee, “where he would have to travel by train, carry his own bag, go through the long pre-game practice, and face pitchers who can throw breaking balls on the corner with a count of 3-2, and have to deal with strange, unpredictable umpiring..” Reggie Smith said essentially the same thing. During the time Rose played, Japan had some of the best pitchers in the world then. Matt Keough, who played for the Hanshin Tiigers, in the 80’s, told me that the starting rotation of the Yomiuri Giants –Saito, Makihara, Kuwata, etc.–was better than any starting rotation in the world. Of course, some of the second level pitchers were not so special, but there were pitchers like Murata Choji, Suzuki Keiishii, and a whole list of others, who were top class world level competitors and were so good that they could screw up a batter’s timing for days afterwards.
It takes a special kind of player to adapt to such a different game. MLB stars like Joe Pepitone, Mike Greenwell and Rob Deer couldn’t do it. And NPB stars like Johjima, Fukudome and Matsui Kazuo could not adjust well to MLB. A player has to change his approach, his way of thinking, his basic game– which you did. But there is no guarantee that Rose would have been able to do it.
Rose was a winner in MLB not because he was a tough, aggressive player, but because he was lucky enough to play on great teams. The Cincinnati Reds had Hall of Fame players in Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and other great stars like Ken Griffey Sr. and Tony Perez. At Philadelphia he played with Mike Schmidt, perhaps the greatest third baseman of all time. You proved you were a winner your very first season when Seattle won 116 games and you won the A.L. MVP. If the Seattle front office surrounded you with decent players then you would be a winner too.
As for headfirst sliding, well, it makes for a nice show. The fans like it. But baseball coaches usually advise players not to do it, because the risk of injury is too great (and it makes it difficult to advance on an errrant throw) It’s not smart baseball. Also, given your physique, I think that head first slides, crashing into outfield fences and colliding into catchers at home plate is too dangerous. The fans want to see you play 162 games a year, which you do, not get hurt and go on the DL.
Of course, there is the OBP question. Rose drew a lot of walks and stole a lot of bases in his better years. His OBP was much higher than yours. But in his final years, when he lost his batting eye, as manager of the Reds, put himself in the lineup anyway so he could pass Ty Cobb’s career hits record, his OBP was terrible.
The fact of the matter is that, in my opinion, you are a better hitter than Rose. Rose never hit .350 or more in the big leagues, but you did, more than once. Rose never had the season hit totals you did –262, 242 etc.–. The best he ever did was 230, then 215,then 210. I think that when all is said and done, when your career is finished, people will consider you the all-time hit king.
On top of that, there is also the question of character. Granted, you act a little strange sometimes. But you also have class. And you are intelligent. Pete Rose was a crude, vulgar, stupid man, who cursed at children and was dishonest and greedy off the field as well. His gambling on baseball while he played and managed MLB was a terrible betrayal of trust of his teammates.
Rose was interesting to watch because of his physical aggressiveness, but so are you, because of your unusual batting form and your laser arm in the outfield. Also, I learned the other day that you also have more two-strike hits than anyone else in baseball. That’s pressure hitting.
I have been in a lot of sports bars in the U.S. and I can tell you that when you come up to bat on TV, just about everybody stops their conversation to watch. That’s about as big a compliment as you can get in baseball.
So relax. Enjoy the off season and come back strong next year. You only need 700 more hits. By then most people will recognize you as the all-time hits king.
Robert Whiting
Tokyo Junkie 
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