What is Ichiro's reputation in the Japan baseball world like?

Oh, I remember there being some talk about it around here somewhere. And at least one of the Seattle newspaper articles was partially translated to Japanese in Nikkan Sports (one of several sports dailies), with the author totally bewildered as to why such a situation would arise.

Here's the problem with the whole situation, summed up very nicely by the speaker at the retreat I went to this past weekend: "What's an obvious given for one person is not so for another" (「一人の当たり前は他人の当たり前ではありません」).

What are the reasons that some of Ichiro's peers think that he's being "selfish" about? Well, he's topped 200 hits each year he's been over there, something that doesn't seem to be done by many. It's clearly obvious by a group of people that Ichiro is only concerned with reaching his base hit goals and nothing else.

However, how is this seen here in Japan? Well, Ichiro is contributing to the team by getting over 200 hits a season, driving in runners ahead of him and getting on base to be driven in by the heart of the order. There is clearly and obviously something wrong with the rest of the team if his hits are coming to nothing more often than not. Ichiro is selflessly and consistently contributing to the team effort, where is everybody else?

I thought the idea that the Japanese press would keep everything "hush-hush due to the tremendous respect" they have for him rather amusing. It's clearly obvious to me that many Japanese reporters tread quietly around Ichiro because they know that he'll outright boycott talking to them if they get out of line. And following Ichiro around to report on what he had for lunch on any given day is how many of them make a living (and the reason I tend to ignore stories about Ichiro).

I did see a good story in yesterday's (Feb. 16, 2009) Nikkan Sports though. When the Japanese WBC team arrived at Miyazaki Airport the day before, Ichiro was taken the "Nagashima route" so as to prevent total pandemonium (which was already running high with Darvish walking through the terminal in a T-shirt). The press was disappointed to report that they also didn't see when or how Ichiro arrived at the hotel, either.

Much care is taken to prevent the press from getting too close to Ichiro. If he's got a "selfish" streak in him at all, it's in wanting to keep his private life private. But you'll be hard pressed to find anyone in Japan who thinks that Ichiro doesn't give 100% or more to the team and game.

The whole Ichiro pitching thing was interesting. 95% of the response I saw to that was "Ichiro is awesome!" with the other 5% being "Ichiro is going to get hurt."

So speaking anecdotally, Ichiro may have burnished his reputation a little bit with that, at least from the fans.

People used to say some of the same nonsense about Tony Gwynn being selfish by hitting all those singles. I never understood that since having Tony in the line up meant the Padres had an automatic 35-40% chance of having a base runner for someone to bring home.

I could see that argument if it were aimed at someone like Rob Deer, who's sole purpose in life seemed to be aimed toward generating a breeze for the infielders.