Prominent Use of Synth

April 11, 2001. Ichiro: The Throw.

Finally! For eight years I’ve been looking for a clip of this throw, which I’d never seen until now, ever since reading this article. It’s the one from Ichiro’s first season in the MLB where he throws out the A’s Terrence Long. In this video it’s the second throw, which gets repeated a number of times from different angles.

I also love the stunned Ordóñez deciding to walk off the field rather than get tagged out at home (4:22).

C (comment #18):

Oakland’s Terrence Long was on first base. The next batter singled to right field, and when Long tried to run from first to third base (a relatively routine maneuver), the Mariners’ right fielder, No. 51, Ichiro Suzuki… threw a line drive from medium-deep right field all the way to the third baseman, who easily tagged out Long.

The bar erupted, the announcer went berserk, I got that weird tingle down my spine I get about twice a decade and for the next 24 hours pretty much all anyone in Seattle could talk about was the Throw. Several players, coaches and broadcasters said it was the single greatest throw they had ever seen. ”The ball came out of a cannon; it was quick and powerful.” ”An eye-high laser.” ”It was like something out of ‘Star Wars.’ ” Even Terrence Long agreed: ”It was going to take a perfect throw to get me, and it was a perfect throw.”

Asked to explain how he was able to throw the runner out, Ichiro said, through his translator: ”The ball was hit right to me. Why did he run when I was going to throw him out?”

The Seattle Times:

The ball traveled 230 to 250 feet on the fly, never rising more than 10 or 12 feet above the ground, until it smacked into the glove of third baseman David Bell, a perfect strike a foot above the bag. The astonished Long was tagged out.