Baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki, who retired in March, enjoyed playing with amateurs at the Hotto Motto Field Kobe stadium in Kobe on Sunday.
The stadium was home for the Orix Buffaloes, for which Suzuki -- known simply as Ichiro in Japan -- was a standout player before launching his long MLB career.
He came out as the starting pitcher of a team he formed with friends and others, leading them to a 14-0 victory over a team of teachers from Chiben Wakayama High School in Wakayama.
In autumn last year, he watched a game played by the schoolteachers and told the high school afterward that he was much impressed by the performance of the school's brass band cheering for the team. Then the school sent him a CD of the brass band's performance. Thus began exchanges between the school and the baseball star.
Sunday's game happened after Suzuki, who said during his farewell press conference that he wanted to pursue amateur baseball, asked the school to play against his team.
He took the pitcher's mound wearing No. 1 on his jersey and wowed the crowd of about 3,000 by pitching a shutout with 16 strikeouts along with getting three hits at the plate.
"I have no problem in my shoulders and elbow. It was so much fun. I'd like to do this every year," he said with a smile after the game.
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