Ichiro’s still got it.
Inviting Ichiro to teach some high school players the finer points of hitting was supposed to be a fun outing for everyone involved. Instead the school is now needing to replace a window.
This clip comes from Asahikawa Higashi High School in Hokkaido, who have a very promising team — and one broken window. Not only did Ichiro blast this out of the park, he belted it into the stratosphere a full 426 feet over the team’s protective net and right into a window.
The best part is when the camera cuts back to the 50-year-old realizing what he did and capturing this.
Same face as when I broke my mom’s vase with a football in the seventh grade. Now look, I don’t think anyone would actually suggest that 50-year-old Ichiro could play in MLB right now, but man is it fun to imagine. I mean, dude was batting .255 as recently as 2017 and he was still a good player.
Instead we’ll just have to enjoy watching him as a mentor now. A mentor who breaks things.