April 11, 2001: ‘Something out of Star Wars’: Ichiro’s throwing arm on center stage against Oakland

“This is a great player, one of the best players in the world. He’s an extraordinary defensive player with a strong arm. … His type of baseball and Safeco Field go hand in glove.” — Seattle Mariners Chairman Howard Lincoln.1

In the bottom of the eighth inning on April 11, 2001, Terrence Long knocked a leadoff single into center for the Oakland Athletics, only the third hit Seattle Mariners workhorse starter Aaron Sele had surrendered that Wednesday night at Network Associates Coliseum.

When pinch-hitter Ramón Hernández laced a single to right two batters later, Long tried to leg out an extra base to put some spark into the trailing Athletics, but Mariners rookie right fielder Ichiro Suzuki had a different idea.

The 27-year-old Japanese import – most famous for winning seven straight batting titles in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league – charged in to field Hernández’s roller and unleashed a laser-like throw to third, firing the ball from a lower angle and with more velocity than most outfielders.

Third baseman David Bell barely had to move his glove to catch the ball on the fly and had already readied the tag as Long began his slide several feet from the bag. The stunning assist – Ichiro’s first in America – squelched one of Oakland’s most promising rallies of the game, a 3-0 victory for the Mariners.

“I’m here to tell you,” longtime Seattle radio broadcaster Dave Niehaus exclaimed to his audience, “that Ichiro threw something out of Star Wars down there at third base.”2

The play became known as “The Throw,” a fitting moniker for one of the most iconic moments from Ichiro’s 19-year US major-league career. The Seattle Times suggested it would be “a play they will talk about for a long, long time” and described the throw as a “200-foot lightning bolt.”3 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer suggested framing the moment and hanging it next to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris.4 Years later, the New York Times wrote that in eight seconds, Ichiro – the first position player to transition from Japan to the US major leagues – went “from curiosity to phenomenon.”5

“I only heard the ball as it went past my ear,” said Mariners All-Star second baseman Bret Boone. “When I saw Long head for third, I just said, ‘You’re out. Period, man. You are out.’ And was he ever out.”6

Long, a 25-year-old center fielder who finished as the runner-up to Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000 AL Rookie of the Year balloting, did not hesitate as he rounded second – especially after seeing third-base coach Ron Washington encouraging him.

After the play, Long looked into right field, hung his head, and slowly walked toward the third-base dugout as the collective wind was taken out of the sails of the A’s and many of the 16,652 fans in attendance.

“He knows,” A’s manager Art Howe said. “He realizes now he made a huge mistake. If you have to slide going into a base at that point in the game, it’s too close. You have to go in standing up, or it’s not worth it.”7

Ichiro’s throw zapped what little momentum the A’s had gained, and after a quiet ninth inning, the Mariners finished off a victory that left them at 6-2 in the young season and one game shy of the best start in franchise history.8 It marked Seattle’s fourth win over the Athletics – the defending American League West Division champs – in the first season of a return to the “unbalanced schedule” that promoted more intradivisional play.9

Oakland, which had gone 91-70 in 2000 to beat the Mariners by a half-game in the standings, carried reigning AL MVP Jason Giambi in the middle of its lineup and had a trio of exciting young starters poised to carry the team for years. Even as one of the youngest teams in the majors,10 the A’s were expected by many analysts to repeat as West Division champions, though they came into this game at 2-5.

Youthful mistakes like Long’s baserunning blunder had them stumbling out of the gate.11 While Long likely would have beaten the throws of many other right fielders, few observers understood that Ichiro could unleash a throw with so much power behind it. So even though it was a risky play on Long’s part, only Ichiro had a total understanding that Long was making a mistake.

“The ball was hit right to me,” Ichiro said through his interpreter. “Why did he run when I was going to throw him out?”12

According to Long: “It was going to have to take a perfect throw to get me. And it did.”13

Ichiro had taken the starting job of popular veteran Jay Buhner, a strong-armed defender who had struggled with injuries in the three seasons leading up to Ichiro’s acquisition.14 The 36-year-old Buhner did not seem to hold any ill will toward the Mariners for replacing him and signed a one-year deal for 2001 that called for limited action.15 A spring-training foot injury derailed Buhner’s farewell tour, however, and limited him to just 19 games in the Mariners’ major-league-record-tying 116-win season.16

On the night of “The Throw,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella had given Ichiro a planned game off. But after Seattle’s offense sputtered for seven innings against emerging left-handed Oakland standout Mark Mulder, Ichiro was summoned to try to jump-start a rally.

The 23-year-old Mulder, who did not face Seattle during his rookie season in 2000, held the Mariners to two hits and struck out seven on 103 pitches over seven innings.17 Piniella inserted Ichiro into the scoreless game as a pinch-hitter to lead off the eighth inning against reliever Jim Mecir.

After falling behind 0-and-2, Ichiro watched a pitch sail high before blooping the next pitch between left fielder Johnny Damon and shortstop Miguel Tejada for a single and the first of his 63 career pinch hits.18 After Ichiro extended his hitting streak to six games, veteran switch-hitter Mark McLemore showed bunt on the first pitch of his at-bat. With third baseman Eric Chávez drawn in, he fouled off a pitch on a hit-and-run play and reached into the right-handed batter’s box on the next pitch to punch a grounder past a diving Chávez on another hit-and-run that sent Ichiro to third.

After Mike Cameron worked the count into his favor at 2-and-1, McLemore took off for second, preventing Cameron’s grounder to shortstop from turning into a double play while Ichiro scored the first run of the game. Edgar Martínez grounded out, and the A’s intentionally walked John Olerud with first base open. Boone, who had doubled earlier in the game, ripped a fly over Long’s head in center to bring home two of his eventual league-leading 141 RBIs19 and give Seattle a 3-0 lead in the less power-packed offensive style that helped define the 2001 Mariners.

“People talk about power,” said veteran reliever Arthur Rhodes, who did not pitch in the game. “But when you get pitching and score a few runs, you don’t need power. You don’t. This is winning baseball.”20

Power and the Mariners were synonymous throughout the 1990s. With home-grown sluggers like Buhner, Ken Griffey Jr., and Álex Rodríguez in the fold, the Mariners hit the most home runs and scored the fourth most runs in the majors between 1990 and 2000.21 In 2001 the Mariners were without a 40-plus home-run hitter for the first time since 1992, but they still led the league in scoring (5.7 runs per game) by using the same small-ball tactics that helped them defeat Oakland.22

Sele, a two-time All-Star, beat the A’s for the second time in a week after allowing four hits and a walk over eight innings of work.23 Mecir took the loss, his second of the season. Sasaki sealed his teammates’ hard work by pitching a one-two-three ninth inning to become the fifth player to record five saves in his team’s first eight games.24

The Mariners won the first meeting in the series, 5-1, though that game was marred by fans hurling taunts and projectiles at Ichiro from the stands.25 By winning 7-3 the next night, Seattle secured a three-game sweep of the Athletics in Oakland for the first time in franchise history.26

“It’s unbelievable,” Piniella said of the successful start. “We just played good baseball this series. We didn’t do anything fancy. We just played blue-collar baseball.”27

For Ichiro, the hits and defensive gems kept coming. The eventual AL Rookie of the Year and MVP hit .350 and set a single-season rookie record with 242 hits. He added his first of 10 straight Gold Gloves, with plays like “The Throw” making him an easy choice for the honor.

“I’ve seen some pretty good arms,” said Piniella, who enjoyed an 18-year playing career and took his first managing job in 1986. “Dave Parker, Ellis Valentine, Jay [Buhner] when I came here – but, boy, that ball had some hop on it.”28

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Eric Vickrey for research assistance.

Photo credit: Ichiro Suzuki, courtesy of the Seattle Mariners.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores noted below. He also used information obtained from the Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oakland Tribune, and New York Times and watched a video replay of the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK200104110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2001/B04110OAK2001.htm

Notes

1 Larry Stone, “M’s Win Bid to Woo Suzuki,” Seattle Times, November 10, 2000. Retrieved July 3, 2024. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20001110&slug=4052340.

2 “Dave Niehaus’ Greatest Calls,” YouTube, November 10, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiaWB2Rn6JA.

3 Bob Finnegan, “M’s Hot Start Continues,” Seattle Times, April 12, 2001: D1.

4 John Hickey, “Ichiro Sparkles With Bat, Arm,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 11, 2001. Retrieved June 26, 2024 https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/ichiro-sparkles-with-bat-arm-1051899.php.

5 Benjamin Hoffman, “A Throw That Made a Phenomenon,” New York Times, July 28, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/sports/baseball/ichiros-2001-throw-made-baseball-take-notice.html.

6 Finnegan, “M’s Hot Start Continues.”

7 Mark Saxon, “Long Comes Up Short – A’s Come Up Losers,” Oakland Tribune, April 11, 2001: 38.

8 Seattle also opened the 1984, ’85, and ’95 seasons at 6-2. With a 7-3 win the next day, the 2001 Mariners moved to 7-2 for the best nine-game start since their inception in 1977.

9 In July 2000, MLB owners unanimously voted to return to an unbalanced schedule for the 2001 season. The American League last used an unbalanced schedule in 1977, while the National League had kept an unbalanced schedule through 1993. In 2000, Oakland and Seattle met 13 times, but that number increased to 19 meetings in 2001.

10 Oakland’s hitters had an average age of 27.3 years old (third youngest in the majors), and their pitchers averaged 28 years old (10th youngest).

11 The A’s sat at .500 as late as July 7, but a torrid 59-17 finish vaulted them into the playoffs as a wild-card team with 102 victories. Through the 2023 season, only the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 had more wins as a wild-card team.

12 Hoffman.

13 Hickey.

14 Buhner led AL right fielders in assists in 1991 and ’92, finished second in ’94, and tied for fourth in ’93 and ’96.     . He missed 215 of 486 games between 1998 and 2000, as knee and elbow ailments sidelined him in 1998, an ankle injury slowed him in 1999, and the Mariners intentionally limited his playing time in 2000 to lessen the risk of further injuries.

15 Buhner signed a $1.85 million contract on December 7, 2000, and Piniella said he expected Buhner would compile between 300 and 350 plate appearances by playing right field, left field, first base, and as the designated hitter. Associated Press, “Buhner Returns to M’s; A-Rod Still Interested,” Olympia (Washington) Olympian, December 8, 2000: D1.

16 Seattle finished the season at 116-46 to match the win total of the 1906 Chicago Cubs, who went 116-36.

17 Mulder finished the season with a league-leading 21 wins and a runner-up finish in Cy Young Award voting behind New York Yankees ace Roger Clemens, who went 20-3 with 213 strikeouts.

18 The bulk of Ichiro’s pinch-hit appearances came in his final full season in 2017. He had only four pinch-hit appearances as a rookie in 2001, but in 2017, he went 27-for-100 as a pinch-hitter for the Miami Marlins. Overall in his career, Ichiro appeared as a pinch-hitter 270 times.

19 Boone’s 141 RBIs, 206 hits, 37 home runs, and .331 batting average marked career-high totals in his first year with the Mariners. He earned his first Silver Slugger Award and second All-Star selection, and finished third in AL MVP voting behind Ichiro and Jason Giambi.

20 Hickey.

21 Seattle’s offense hit 2,063 home runs in that period. (The Detroit Tigers had the second-most with 1,995.) The top scoring teams in that period were the Cleveland Indians (8,920 runs), Texas Rangers (8,794), New York Yankees (8,748), and Seattle (8,663). The Mariners led the majors in home runs in 1997 (264), 1998 (234), and 1999 (244), and runs per game in 1996 (6.2) and 1997 (5.7) After Buhner’s string of injuries, Griffey departing for the Cincinnati Reds in 2000, and Rodríguez going to the Rangers in 2001, Seattle ranked 18th in home runs in 2001 (169).

22 Through their first eight games, the Mariners had hit only seven home runs, their lowest total to start the season since they hit five in the first eight games of the strike-shortened 1995 season. Three years earlier in 1998, Seattle clubbed a franchise-record 20 homers over the first eight games.

23 Sele, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martínez, Randy Johnson, and David Wells came into 2001 with at least 17 wins in three consecutive seasons, and Sele piled up another 15 victories to end his first tenure in Seattle with a .681 winning percentage over two seasons. Among Seattle pitchers with at least 65 starts, Sele ranked third in franchise history with that mark, trailing teammates Paul Abbott (.714) and Freddy García (.698). Had Sele not returned to Seattle in 2005, his .681 winning percentage would still rank first as of the 2023 season. Instead, his career .585 mark ranks eighth.

24 Sasaki joined Salomé Barojas (1982 Chicago White Sox), Mitch Williams (1993 Philadelphia Phillies), Duane Ward (1993 Toronto Blue Jays), and Rod Beck (1997 San Francisco Giants) as relievers to turn the trick since saves became an official statistic in 1969. Sasaki notched 45 saves in 2001, finishing second in the AL behind New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera (50).

25 Oakland increased security after Ichiro was heartily booed by fans and several coins and other projectiles flew onto the field. Ichiro brushed it off, suggesting “something came out of the sky and hit me.” Larry LaRue, “More Security For Ichiro Makes Cents,” Tacoma (Washington) News Tribune, April 12, 2001: C5.

26 The Mariners won both games of a two-game series in Oakland on September 16 and 17, 1998, but had never swept a three- or four-game series there since their inception as an expansion team in 1977. Seattle won three of four games in Oakland in September 1997 and had won two of three games in May 1977 (the first-ever series between the teams), April 1987, August 1993, and August 1995. At home, the Mariners had swept the Athletics five times: July 1984, April 1985, April 1991, August 1991, and September 1995.

27 Anne M. Peterson (Associated Press), “M’s Cruise to Historic Start,” Olympia Olympian, April 13, 2001: D1.

28 Finnegan, “M’s Hot Start Continues.”