The 2001 Seattle Mariners were the greatest regular season team in baseball history, having won 116 games against just 46 losses. Unfortunately, they didn't win the World Series, but more than 20 years later, the lore of their regular season success lives on.
The Mariners great season was made even greater considering they had lost Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez in successive seasons. You usually don't get better when losing two Hall of Fame talents, but the Mariners did. Part of the reason that the Mariners did get better was because they added a future Hall of Famer in Ichiro Suzuki.
Ichiro came over from Japan before the 2001 season and went on to win both the Rookie of the Year and the MVP awards.
He led the league in hits that year (242), won the batting title at .350 and led the league in steals with 56.
Speaking on the 'Black Diamonds' podcast, his former teammate, Mike Cameron, described Ichiro's 2001 season in a very unique way.
"...There was no answer for his skillset. He was just special, like real special. When I watched him play, I just say he's like a dancing ballerina mixed with a black cat, he just had this ability, man...."
That's one way to describe him! But Cameron is right, there's certainly nobody recently who has been like Ichiro.
He spent parts of 19 seasons in the major leagues with the Mariners, Yankees and Marlins, amassing 3,089 hits and posting a lifetime batting average of .311. He won two batting titles and was named a 10-time All-Star and a 10-time Gold Glover. He also won the Rookie of the Year award and the MVP in 2001.
This was all accomplished after a great career in Japan. He didn't come to the majors until the age of 27.
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