Mariners’ Ichiro statue breaks during unveiling
SEATTLE – A few minutes after the not-so-smooth unveiling of the newest Mariners statue, Ken Griffey Jr. approached Ichiro inside a ground-floor hallway at T-Mobile Park and professed his innocence.
“I did not do that,” Griffey told his former teammate.
Video evidence suggests otherwise.
As Griffey and Edgar Martinez pulled the drapery off the statue, the bronze bat held aloft by the statue snapped at the handle, leaving the rest of the bat dangling at a 45-degree angle.
Confetti flying, Griffey put his head on Martinez’s shoulder and then covered his eyes. Ichiro laughed and pointed at the bat.
It was an accident, of course, but it was easy to point out the symbolism between the broken bat and the current state of the Mariners offense.
Ichiro, at least, had a sense of humor about the whole thing. He blamed it on Mariano Rivera, the Yankees Hall of Famer closer who might hold the unofficial MLB record for breaking batters’ bats.
“I didn’t think Mariano would come out here and break the bat,” Ichiro said, via his longtime interpreter Allen Turner.
This wasn’t the first incident involving a broken bat on a Mariners statue.
In October 2017, an intoxicated man ripped the bronze bat off the Griffey statue. The man was eventually charged with felony malicious mischief, and the bat was reattached a few months later.
Ichiro’s bat was quickly fixed, too (at least temporarily).
The bat aside, the Ichiro ceremony was a hit.
Ichiro was accompanied by his wife, Yumiko, and their dog, Kikyu.
Julio Rodríguez stood near the back and recorded the ceremony with a camcorder. Rick Rizzs, the team’s venerable radio voice, served as the emcee.
“This monument,” Rizzs said, “will serve a lasting tribute to one of the most unique, influential and beloved players in the history of the game of baseball.”
The Ichiro statue depicts the hit king’s classic batting stance – right arm extended toward the pitcher, left arm folded across his chest. The statue rests on the corner of Edgar Martinez Drive and Dave Niehaus Way outside the Mariners ballpark, directly east of the statues of Griffey Jr. and Martinez, the three players representing the Mariners in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ichiro’s statue was created by Chicago artist Lou Cella, the same sculptor who made the statues of Griffey, Martinez and Niehaus.
Cella visited Ichiro in Seattle, and Ichiro wore his 2001 rookie jersey to model for the artist. They had several follow-up FaceTime calls as Cella designed and sculpted the statue.
“We went back and forth on a few details of the statue, and I would say something about the statue, and he would just make it almost immediately perfect,” Ichiro said. “I was very surprised at how well (he incorporated) input that I was able to give him, and he would just make it into that art. It was a great experience.”
In 2001, Ichiro became the first Japanese position player to make the jump to the major leagues, and last summer he became the first Japanese player enshrined in the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
There has, indeed, been much to celebrate for Ichiro over the past year.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame after receiving 393 of the 394 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, one shy of becoming the first position player in MLB history to earn unanimous election. (Rivera is the only player to earn unanimous election, in 2019).
Last August, the Mariners also retired Ichiro’s No. 51.
“The Hall of Fame, I was short one vote, and then today my bat was broke. So this lets me know that I’m still not there, that I still need to keep going,” Ichiro said, smiling.
On Friday night, the Mariners are giving away a miniature replica statue of Ichiro to the first 40,000 fans through the gates before the Mariners-Astros game. Twenty of those replica statues will be signed by Ichiro, the club announced.