However, teammates noticed he never dived for a ball in the outfield and noticed his special care and handling in the clubhouse. He got along well with Ken Griffey, who traveled to Tokyo for Ichiro’s farewell - superstars bonding via their respect for the game. Ichiro was a force of his own, who would not have won a popularity contest in the clubhouse or the press box. He was already a force.īut young American hitters are hearing the “wisdom” of the age that is turning Major League Baseball into a dreary home-run derby, hard to watch, with players trudging impassively back from home plate with the secure knowledge they took their launch-angle cut, on orders from on high.Ģ. He was going to do things his way, and he had the advantage of a Japanese ownership with the Mariners. Ichiro arrived in North America with his climate-control bat case and his pre-game snack of a rice ball. Ichiro and Oh could do that because they had the security of a culture that prizes ritual and history. He also had the martial discipline of Sadaharu Oh, the greatest home-run producer in baseball history, who took time out to swing a Samurai sword to help him with his home-run cut. Of course, Ichiro arrived in Seattle with the statistics of the greatest hit-producer in Japanese history. 329 in his debut last season, making him scramble for a utility job in the outfield. I see how the Mets are doing their best to minimize Jeff McNeil, a late bloomer who made 74 hits and batted. The analytics crowd is currently retrofitting the new generation of hitters. The numbers guy might see him produce long balls in batting practice – which he could do, any time – and insist he do the same during games. He might be turned over to the analytics types in their bat cave, who would "suggest" he could have more “pop” if only he had a better “launch arc.” I can only speculate what would happen today if a player with similar skills arrived from Japan to the so-called Major Leagues. Overall, I think it really retains the VHS aesthetic it deserves.Two thoughts about Ichiro Suzuki, who just retired:ġ. The luminance levels for digitization were adjusted mainly to see Greg's face and those of the crowd-but the fluorescents are totally blown out. It's curious that the anonymous camera person never zooms in on the band. The tracking errors at the bottom of frame are "burned into" this generation from dubbing. As will be evident, the quality of this bootleg is fair-to-poor. We used to drive into the city from the suburbs to buy VHS copies of the shows we had attended at the Fireside Bowl, which was.well, really, beyond words: an incredible place on earth. They always had a slew of videotaped Chicago punk shows for sale on VHS, with crappy monotone colored photocopy covers (I think this cover was blue). This video is a bootleg that was purchased at The Clubhouse, next door to The Metro on Clark Street in Chicago.
Admission was $5, and The Bouncing Souls played with The Bollweevils, Face Value, and Bughunt.
According to The Chicago Shows List Archive, this show was on Sunday, October 8th, 1995. The Bollweevils live at the Fireside Bowl.