Ichiro Statue Unveiling Goes About As Poorly As Possible

There's no question that Ichiro Suzuki is a statue-worthy Major League Baseball player.

I remember playing Little League as a kid and being bummed that I was right-handed, which made it tough to pull off that slick swing Ichiro had.

The guy is one of the all-time greats, and on Friday, the Mariners unveiled a statue of the Hall of Famer outside of T-Mobile Stadium.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long before the statue needed to be sent to the shop for some repairs.

The statue was unveiled to the public in a big ceremony led by broadcaster Rick Rizzs.

However, when they finally pulled the sheet off, it was pretty clear that something was wrong, even if you didn't happen to catch the audible crack of the statue's bat snapping.

Whoops.

I don’t think it takes much thought to realize the sheet got caught on the bat, which the statue holds in that iconic, straight-up, vertical position Ichiro used when he stepped up to the plate.

Maybe one of the unveilers  — which included fellow Mariners greats Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., and team owner John Stanton — pulled a bit too hard on that bat, which gave way.

As far as statue fiascos go, this wasn't too bad. At least it looks like Ichiro. He could have a Cristiano Ronaldo or Baker Mayfield situation.

To the Mariners' credit, they had fun with the incident. They shared a picture of a revamped version of the replica statue fans were getting at Friday's game.

Fortunately, it wasn't too long before they managed to get the bat fixed and back into its original, intended position.

Good, but next time you have a grand unveiling of a statue, maybe don't pull too hard on the sheet.