Just who was that odd fellow sitting on the Seattle Mariners bench with the bushy mustache, shades and a hoodie?
Wait a second — it was Ichiro!
Now a team executive, Ichiro Suzuki on Thursday donned a Bobby Valentine-style disguise and sneaked into the Seattle dugout to watch a bit of the action at Yankee Stadium.
Photo: AP
“He was perfect. I never would have known it was him,” Valentine texted to reporters.
Officially, Suzuki is not allowed to be in the dugout during games. The 44-year-old outfielder with 3,089 career hits came off the Seattle roster early last month and moved into the team’s front office as a special assistant to the chairman.
Suzuki has been taking part in pre-game drills and batting practice in a role similar to a coach, but he is required to leave the bench when games begin, and that is when he (usually) takes his place in the clubhouse.
This time, in a ballpark where he played for parts of three seasons, Suzuki got a much closer look.
Suzuki sat in the middle of the dugout in the back row and occasionally crouched down while the Yankees swung away.
He was gone by the second inning of Seattle’s 4-3 loss that completed a New York sweep.
The 10-time All-Star has not officially retired and there is speculation the Japanese great might play when the Mariners open next season in Tokyo with a two-game series against Oakland.
On the day it was announced Suzuki was moving into his new position, he predicted this might happen.
“During the game I will be doing the same preparations I’ve been doing the entire time. Nothing is going to change for me that I did as a player,” Suzuki said at the time. “But I can’t say for certain that maybe I won’t put on a beard and glasses and be like Bobby Valentine and be in the dugout.”
In 1999, Valentine was ejected from a game he was managing for the New York Mets. He was tossed in the 12th inning, but soon put on a fake mustache and sunglasses and returned to the dugout in disguise.
Valentine was later suspended for two games and fined US$5,000.
The longtime manager liked Suzuki’s creativity.
“One of the biggest honors of my life,” Valentine said. “I was going to send him a set, but he didn’t need it.”
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS