
Mariners centerfielder Ichiro has a long and glorious history of quotes that may or may not make sense in his native Japanese but sound awesomely ridiculous in English (with this one being the all-time best), and he waited all of about 20 seconds after arriving to spring training to add to his legend.
In case you haven't paid attention to offseason moves, the M's sacrificed a huge chunk of their future in a vain attempt to compete with the Angels this year when they traded gold-star prospect (and excellent source of outfield defense) Adam Jones and others to the Orioles for Erik Bedard, which will almost certainly blow up in Seattle's collective face. But Ichiro's fine with having aging relics on either side of him at spacious Safeco. From Geoff Baker's Mariners Blog (via USSM):
Ichiro seemed to be joking when we asked him about newcomer Brad Wilkerson in right field and Raul Ibanez in left… "If the other corner outfielders have too much speed and too much ability and try to do too much, it's hard for me,'' he said.
Ha ha, it's funny because they suck! Seriously, if I said that Raul Ibanez could run down a routine fly ball, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'd be lying.


If Richie Sexson does not strike out so much, it's hard for me since I like to steal bases.
If the O's ever end up on the better end of a trade, I'd punch myself in the face because I'd be dreaming. Either that or hallucinating. And nothing mitigates a bad acid trip like a self-inflicted sucker punch.
The O's will get the better of that trade.
The O's biggest worry is that a creepy local Toronto sportcaster has access to Rick Dempsey.
I know everyone loves Erik Bedard, and he does have nasty stuff, but it was only a few years ago where there were serious questions about his desire and work ethic. We'll see.
Also, Ichiro continues to show why he's my favorite player in baseball.
Ichiro can say whatever he wants; he backs it up. I still don't like the trade and wish that we had Jones. Also, people who can hit besides Ichrio.
If either of these teams is even close to being in the pennant race I'll probably still be too drunk to care.
I think I'm officially an Ichiro fan. I'm cool with Seattle because of Jr. and all, but it's, like, way across the country and I'm pretty fuckin lazy. That said, the Cleveland quote is the first I've head that tops "[something about throwing shit on the field] You don't live in Cleveland. You live in Cincinnati!" God I miss Sammy. At least this ties back to football somehow.
I give mad propers to his interpreter.
You try to deliver those quotes with a straight face.
I'm no screaming lock-down-the-borders isolationist, but to reside in this country you should at least be able to speak English as well as the current president.
@Hugh
What if you can get a base hit almost everytime you're at bat?
It's sad that Érik Bédard actually learned english, a duo of Bédard/Ichiro broken english quotes would have been any sports fans dream.
You deal for a big-time young stud lefty and follow it up with…Brad Wilkerson? Well played, Mr. Bavasi, well played.
Ashton Kutcher wants his hat back
Looks like he’s about to enter the “dick carwash” in that pic.
The fuck? Toook Yao like 3 Days to learn enough english to do a fuckin McDonalds commercial. WTF is Ichiro doin?
@Swany
"Can I Write check?"
I think it's good that Ichiro doesn't know (or refused to learn) decent English. Because if he was fluent, he'd probably storm into Bill Bavasi's office and curse him out for 5 hours straight. Ichiro will then get traded for Garrett Anderson, thus coimpleting his collection of worn-out stiffs like Ibanez, Wilkerson, Richie Sexson and Jose Vidro.
Fantasy Baseball Tip: draft beer not ichiro. beware a big dropoff this year.
+1 to Nigel for Dick Car Wash.
Ichiro does speak English, and even some Spanish, though he would rather speak publicly through an interpreter.