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

~ (Compiler), cover illustration by James Hunt (Illustrator) "I agonized all spring about whether to get cable TV..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Alex Rodriguez, American League (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

Review

The book on Ichiro, other than to walk him, which is hard to do, was written by David Shields, a novelist whose sense of postmodern irony is so advanced that I cannot be sure whether or not he is serious --Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times

There's a scene in the New York art-house classic, Downtown 81, wherein a curbside hooker asks the late graffiti superstar Jean-Michel Basquiat if he'd like to go out. Basquiat replies, I'm already out. Your reaction to Basquiat's line ought to tell you whether to pick up this book. If you think the utterance is mundane and obvious, then stick to your John Irving novels. But if, like me, you found it to be funny and clever, then you'll probably dig Shields's little book. Just as you'd probably dig one of Basquiat's intentionally rugged paintings or Ichiro's dogged pursuit of the anti-cliché. --Mike Seely, Tablet

Through his introduction and quote selection. Shields turns Ichiro's comments into Eastern wisdom, revealing a person who values Zen qualities such as simplicity and harmony and who revels in challenge, not achievement. --ESPN.com Insider

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: TNI Books; 1st edition (August 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967870313
• ISBN-13: 978-0967870311
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #623,534 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rookie's MVB, August 24, 2001

By	Brett R. Winn (Walla Walla, WA USA) - See all my reviews

I have never been a 'die-hard' baseball fan till this year when Ichiro stepped up to the plate. He put the fun back into baseball. Thanks to David Shields we now have an idea of just how much fun Ichiro is having as a baseball player. This book of Ichiro's quotes on baseball- from lighthearted and whimsical to thought-provoking words of wisdom- can be applied to our everyday life. This is a must-have book for any baseball fan. You'll want to share this one with your friends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stocking stuffer, November 21, 2001

By	Hunter B. Williams "hunterw" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a terrific way to find out about the inscrutable superstar! His batting average is matched by his efficiency with language. Even my 3-year old son enjoys the short quips in this book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Hit, October 4, 2001

By	Gary S. Beckwith (Yokosuka, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When Ichiro Suzuki signed with the Seattle Mariners, NHK Television, Japan's equivalent to PBS, in an unprecedented move, negotiated to broadcast not a few, as is the norm, but ALL of the Mariners games in 2001. (Even Hideo Nomo, a local hero in his own right, who went to the LA Dodgers, didn't receive this much broadcast coverage.) Now the two most watched baseball teams in the Land of the Rising Sun are the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants and the Seattle Mariners.

As a long-time resident of Japan I have watched Ichiro make behind-the-back catches since he was in high school. I was amazed when, during one of the All-Star games (they play a series), Ichiro shifted from the outfield to the pitchers' mound and threw like he did such a thing every day.

While friends and I attend a few games a season, I'm just not a big baseball fan...until Ichiro plays on TV. After-work cocktails with "the boys" more often than not starts with someone asking, "Did you see what Ichiro did today?" Expletive-deleted comments are usually centered around "unbelievable!" Now these sessions include "Baseball is Just Baseball".

Ichiro is a hero to all of us here in Japan and this book shows, beyond the remarkable playing skills, why. In a time when big bats are usually accompanied by big mouths, Ichiro shows the world that it just doesn't have to be that way.

Great reading and here's hoping David Shields can put out a new volume every year.