As veil falls on Ichiro Suzuki's statue, so too goes his bat

SEATTLE (AP) — Oh, snap.

As the Seattle Mariners unveiled their third statue in franchise history outside T-Mobile Park, one of Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, there was a blip.

A bronze statue that depicted Suzuki in his famed batting stance appeared to be defective when it was displayed Friday morning. Suzuki’s bat snapped near the handle, and the barrel veered off to the right-hand side.

After the ceremony, Suzuki joked that New York Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera got the best of him.

“I didn’t think Mariano would come out here,” Suzuki said with a smile, “and break the bat.”

It did not take long for the Mariners to fix the statue; Suzuki’s bat was soon turned upright and reconnected at the handle. Suzuki, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer, became only the third Mariners player to have his number retired by the franchise last year as well, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (No. 24) and Edgar Martinez (No. 11).

Griffey and Martinez joined Suzuki outside T-Mobile Park on Friday, and all three pulled a tarp off the statue together. Suzuki made history last summer as the first Japanese-born player inducted into the Hall of Fame, and earning a near-unanimous 99.7% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

The way a jovial Suzuki saw it, his statue having an imperfection was only fitting.

“In the Hall of Fame, I was short one vote,” Suzuki said. “Today, the bat was broke. It kind of lets me know that I’m still not there, that I still need to keep going. So, this is a good example of that.”

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