The only “real” parts of this interview are the Bungei Shungu intro in purple, the Ichiro quotes in red and the Dr. Naka quotes in blue. Dr. Naka excerpted the Bungei Shunju / Sports Graphic Number interview in Japanese: http://www.bunshun.co.jp/index.html; also see hyperlink in title bar, where Dr. Naka believes we can purchase the complete interview.

The rest of the interview framework is for info-tainment.

Note carefully that Ichiro’s answers were not in response to these specific questions. THIS IS A VIRTUAL INTERVIEW!

Why do we frame it this way, then?

Dr. Naka, who has spoken with us offline, has encouraged us to develop our own D-O-V commentary on the interview.

Once again: the only “real” part of the “interview” are Ichiro’s quotes, in red, as well as Dr. Naka’s comments in blue, and the SGN intro in purple. You can buy the actual Ichiro interview, which seems to be at least as no-holds-barred, at the links provided.

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Note that the original Sports Graphic Number interview is copyrighted and (as of now) only available in Japanese, by subscription.

Dr. Naka translates only certain allowable excerpts, not for profit (we make no money off the website). The “Virtual Interviews” consist primarily of Dr. Naka’s, and my own, commentary.

Excerpts from Ichiro’s Interview, with Dr. D’s Usual Mindless Blather Wrapped Around Them

Sports Graphic Number: “Was Ichiro angry? On October 2nd, Ichiro was running the fields alone to prepare for the last regular season game (when he consented to interview with us).”

Q. DOV/’SGN’: You looked demoralized and seemed to lack spirit during the 2005 season. In May you had a sharp quote, “If we cannot win that game, we cannot win any game.” Was it the losing, or the effort, or what?

A. Ichiro: Most shocking for me was how the the clubhouse was (at the end of the year). They gave up any attempt to win.

Q. DOV/SGN: You’ve been playing pro baseball for 12 years. This time the September attitude was unique in your experience?

In the past you have singled out a few Mariners, such as Jamie Moyer, as having a work ethic of which you approve, and which is similar to your own. Not many MLB players work like you do. You are saying that your 2005 teammates did not care about winning, or felt helpless, or what?

A. Sports Graphic Number Reporter’s observation. Though it was a team with lot of called-up players in September, some players just counted their fingers to the offseason. Some were busy for cardgames before the game.

Q. DOV/SGN: They just stopped caring. The fans are down there paying $100 a night and the ballplayers don’t care whether they win or not. How could this have been prevented, in your opinion?

A. Ichiro. The managers and coaches were and are to blame.


Q. DOV/SGN: The 2005 clubhouse became a losers’ clubhouse. It happens all the time in American pro sports. Losing sets in, discipline breaks down, backbiting and pettiness sets in, the club swirls down the drain.

A. Ichiro. The least (you would say about the situation is that) the managers are not “black belts” for quality control.

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Q. Dr. Naka: I just wonder why no one local paper is reporting such things of the clubhouse.

A. Dr. Detecto: In the U.S., sportswriters value their access to the front office, and their relationships with the players, and the team will immediately “black sheep” them if any unfavorable “inside information” is leaked.

Q. Dr. Naka: At least who read this will know why Ichiro was unhappy.

A. Dr. Detecto: Maybe. We can hope, but in MLB, fixing the problem and winning is not always the first priority. More often, the first priority is ego and reputation. The likely response to Ichiro’s “cry for help” would be anger towards him for embarrassing the players who quit on the season.

Q. D-O-V: How does this kind of thing usually play out in the majors? What happens when a hardworking player throws up his hands, breaks code, and says “I’ve had it with these losers”?

A. Dr. Detecto: It can range from a mild rolling of the eyes, to the player being finished with the team. Ballplayers never accept being “shown up” — the rule about never embarrassing other players is much, much more important to most of them than any actual winning.

I agree with this much: there is a legitimate expectation that the player will stand up in the locker room and say these things face-to-face, rather than in the press. If Ichiro broke code in this case, that is where he went wrong - not to speak to the team directly.

Obviously, there are language problems and other problems that make it difficult for Ichiro to lead the Mariners vocally — just as Tuffy Rhodes could never lead the Yomiuri Giants in the clubhouse. Notably, Ichiro has never gone to the Seattle or even American press.

ARod stood up in Texas and said, “the losing is killing me,” and nobody said much, because the losing WAS killing ARod.

There are a few times when a clubhouse really is a disaster, and a player is respected beyond question, and then ballplayers will sort of shut up and accept the tongue-lashing. A Curt Schilling or Greg Maddux would have the sort of “on-field pull” to say something like that and get away with it.

Q. DOV: So will Ichiro land on his feet here?

A. Dr. Detecto: The interview was in Japan … ten years ago, it would have gone under everybody’s radar. Maybe it still will.

In this case, Ichiro is:

1) Backed by his team’s owner
2) 100% in the right
3) A superstar with an unquestioned work ethic
4) An “outsider” who is viewed with a certain element of suspicion by some MLB elements

Ichiro will be fine in the organization; he may get a little coolness in the clubhouse; he may very well help provoke some necessary changes.

Hey, the truth hurts, buddy. Don’t shoot the messenger!

Q. DOV: Do you approve of Ichiro’s saying something?

A. Dr. Detecto. Do I approve of a man standing up and telling his fellow-soldiers that they need to be men also?

Always.

BABVA,
Dr D