My Caps Off To You!

My favourite Japanese export has got to be Ichiro Suzuki who plays for the Seattle Mariners. Though the guy has an incredible batting average, Japan is very fickle and dumped him like a hot potato as soon as it began to wane and leapt at the chance to cheer for the next hero. But I still like the guy and a few years ago, I collected several bottle caps from Pepsi that envisioned his visage.



Here they are for you, starting with him in his Home jersey.













Here he is showing off his skills sporting his Away jersey. I'm missing #5, if anyone has one, I'd be happy to trade some of my doubles for it. I've also included a replica of his helmet.








Here are a couple of 3-d Wiggle cards. If you click the pic, you might be able to make out his stats.











This lovely reproduction is a rare Bobble-headed Ichiro.











But my favourite has got to be the Bobble-headed Mariners Moose!










Here we have Ichiro back in his rookie days as an Orix Blue Wave player:






Remember I mentioned that Japan loves to jump on the bandwagon for the next hot star. This guy, 松井 秀喜 (Matsui Hideki), is it! I saw Godzilla play last summer against the Blue Jays and I must admit that he was impressive to watch.








Before I go, I should show you a few poses of one of Japan's greatest players but one who plays for my despised Yomiuri Giants. 長嶋 茂雄 (Shigeo Nagashima).








He is SO good, that he can detach his leg in order to leap higher to catch a ball!