This is a very old link. I realize it is not particularly common to put up a link that is almost four years old. I don’t care. I really like it, and I think you will too. Please read: Basball is just baseball: An excerpt from a new book by David Shields. It is about the Seattle Mariners’ right-fielder Ichiro Suzuki, and if it doesn’t make you think that there’s hope for baseball, then you are not like I am in that respect.

A quote:

In a game against the Baltimore Orioles, Ichiro made two spectacular diving catches. Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said, “The catch he made on Anderson’s ball down the line and the catch he made on Hairston’s ball - no other right fielder in the American League makes those plays. Maybe he makes one of them but doesn’t make both of them.” Asked, afterward, which of the catches was the most difficult, Ichiro said, “It’s tough to say which one was the toughest, because each fly ball had a different characteristic.”

And another:

Asked his reaction to Alex Rodriguez getting booed so vociferously upon his return to Seattle, Ichiro said, “It’s very tough for a ballplayer to get proud and keep his dignity. There’s not much difference between love and hate.”