Tom Brady has won five Super Bowls. Even the most casual of sports fans would likely be able to recognize the Patriots quarterback he’s the dude from that mattress commercial!
But for future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, Brady hasn’t even registered a blip on his sports radar.
In a recent story from The Athletic, Ichiro received a text message from a number he didn’t recognize in 2017. Apparently, Alex Rodriguez had passed along Ichiro’s number to none other than Tom Brady. Ichiro’s reaction, though, was absolutely priceless.
He had no idea who Brady was. Via The Athletic:
One morning in spring training, 2017, he was in the coaches’ room looking at his cell phone text messages. Ichiro told the coaches about one message he had just received from a number he didn’t recognize. The guy said he’d gotten Ichiro’s number from Alex Rodriguez, and that he wanted to come meet him and study his stretching system.
“What’s the guy’s name?” asked one of the coaches.
Ichiro strolled to the end of the text. “Some guy named Tom Brady. Who the f*** is Tom Brady?”
In his baseball-genius world, Ichiro Suzuki wouldn’t know Tom Brady from Al Rando.
Ichiro after spending the entirety of Brady’s NFL career as a professional athlete in the U.S. managed to somehow never hear about the 13-time Pro Bowler.
Was Ichiro kidding? Did he really not recognize the name of the Patriots legendary quarterback and 5-time Super Bowl winner? Hard to say, but it’s made for a funny little sidebar to the Suzuki story as both men have defied father time – Brady still continuing to do so – with their unique workouts.
