"Baseball Is Just Baseball": The Understated Ichiro: An Unauthorized Collection Compiled by David Shields

by David Shields (Compiler)

Anyone with even a passing interest in baseball can't help but look on in amazement at the 2001 Seattle Mariners. After losing heavy hitters Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez in back-to-back seasons, the Mariners have gone on to play "a new ... beautiful brand of team baseball." Mariners' rookie right fielder Ichiro Suzuki--who "like Madonna or Cher or Pelé, went only by his first name," as author David Shields writes in the introduction to his compilation Baseball Is Just Baseball: The Understated Ichiro--is the first Japanese position player to play in the majors.

There's an exhilarating fascination surrounding the young, sphinxlike All-Star and the global audience that tunes in to watch him snag home-runs-in-the-making from the sky. A fixture of baseball highlight reels, he's the first rookie ever to draw the most overall votes for the 2001 All-Star Game (held at Seattle's Safeco Field). Ichiromania even inspired fans to camp out overnight for a chance to claim a bobblehead doll cast in his likeness. Ichiro is much more than Japan's version of Michael Jordan--he's a cultural phenomenon (it's reported that Ichiro's the most recognizable person in Japan, with the emperor running a distant second).

Author David Shields is no stranger to the Seattle sports scene. He chronicled the 1994-95 season of the Seattle SuperSonics in his critically acclaimed book Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season. Shields, too, was swept up by Ichiro's "smart, subtle play" and humble persona, and compiled this collection of Ichiro quotations. The slim volume is packed with elegant wisdom, unexpected observations, and a refreshing sense of optimism from No. 51. Shields wonders, "Was I trying to impart philosophic significance to simple athletic excellence? Maybe the words acquired a lyrical glamour as they got translated from Japanese to English?"

When Ichiro was asked to analyze a particularly acrobatic catch, he replies: "It was a fly ball; I caught it."

On why he hasn't gotten into any arguments with major league umpires: "So far nothing has bothered me."

Individually, Ichiro's "haunting aphorisms" possess the beautiful complexity of Zen koans; together they read like The Tao of Ichiro. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Genres: Baseball, Nonfiction, Sports

Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

David Shields is the author of fourteen books, including Reality Hunger (Knopf, 2010), which was named one of the best books of 2010 by more than thirty publications. GQ called it "the most provocative, brain-rewiring book of 2010"; the New York Times called it "a mind-bending manifesto." His previous book, The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Knopf, 2008), was a New York Times bestseller. His other books include Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity, winner of the PEN/Revson Award; and Dead Languages: A Novel, winner of the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. His essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Yale Review, Believer, Village Voice, Salon, Slate, McSweeney's, and Utne Reader; he's written reviews for the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Inquirer. His work has been translated into fifteen languages.

Reviews

[Lee Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tao of Ichiro -- the ideal self-help bathroom book for baseball fans. Shields -- the compiler, the mixmaster, the DJ -- does a fine job patterning the Ichiro quotes. A few good laughs, plus (reading it in mid-March) it warmed me the way only Ideas of Baseball can. Copies can be had online for a penny plus the cost of shipping. Would love to see an updated edition with quotes from the past nine years. Also interesting to read this after reading Shields' very un-understated recent manifesto.

[Moira · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have met me, it's probably not a huge surprise to you that this is like my favorite book ever. They need to do an updated version and include Ichiro's awesome comments about Cleveland and his translation of what his dog told him about re-signing with Seattle.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

How does one rate a book like this? The quotes by Ichiro are worth 5 stars, but I'm giving it less, because the 'compiler' perhaps could've done more with this slight book. (It can be read in about 15 minutes.) It was published in 2001 (Ichiro's rookie season in MLB) so it'd be great to have an updated collection one day. Fun book for any baseball fan.

[david · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's good. simple and quick to read, i can see why shields used this format rather than a more elaborate biographical style coming at this after reality hunger.

[Jennifer Didik · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's no Yogi Berra, but this is still fun to flip through. Thanks, Holly!

[Bernadette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed this on my baseball blog. Read it here.

[Salsabrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ichiro doesn't know how funny he can be!