Mariner is voted AL's Outstanding Player by his peers
By Jim Street / MLB.com
Ichiro Suzuki won a previous Players Choice Award, as AL Outstanding Rookie in 2001. (Eric Risberg/AP)
The single-season hit record Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki shattered this season made a big impression on his peers.
Ichiro, who broke a record George Sisler held alone for 84 years, was named Thursday as the American League's Outstanding Player in 2004. It is the second time he has won a Players Choice Award, having been named the league's Outstanding Rookie in 2001.
The first position player from Japan to become a superstar in the Major Leagues, Ichiro won his second AL batting title with a .372 average and captured the attention of baseball fans all over the world during his late-season assault on one of the game's oldest records.
Sisler, a Hall of Fame first baseman, had 257 hits during the 1920 season -- three more than anyone else in history entering 2004. But Ichiro went on a hitting binge in May and continued it through September, tying the longstanding record on Oct. 1.
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