Ichiro delivered the perfect joke about statue breaking during reveal
Ichiro Suzuki received a statue outside of T-Mobile Park to honor his years of service, including 10 MLB All-Star appearance, with the Mariners. It was a special tribute to Ichiro, who attended the ceremony alongside former teammate including Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez.
During the reveal, however, it did not take long for fans and for Ichiro to notice that the tarp covering the statue was broken: We have a malfunction pic. twitter. com/4Ga4vvaIu5 — Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) April 10, 2026 Ichiro joked that former Yankees rival Mariano Rivera was the pitcher who broke the statue.
Rivera was known for breaking bats with his cutter during his professional pitching career. He famously broke three from one at-bat during the 1999 MLB World Series. New York Times tallied more than 40 in less than 81 inning in his 2001 campaign.
Slight malfunction upon reveal… Ichiro laughed it off, and the bat is in the process of being moved upright. “I didn’t think Mariano would come out here and break the bat. ” pic.
twitter. com/D5NZPg0eJm — Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) April 10, 2026 The Mariners played around about it, too, jokingly about offering fans a bobblehead with a broken bat to match the statue: Breaking: We’ve updated tonight’s Ichiro Replica Statue giveaway. pic.