Get ready for an adorable story of friendship, because this 7-year-old boy is secretly raising baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki in his closet as his special buddy.
Cuteness. Overload. This is officially the most heartwarming story we’ve ever read.
When Ohio second-grader Ryan Harris found Ichiro wandering around in his neighbor’s yard a couple of weeks ago, he lured the 10-time MLB All Star into his home with some raw chicken, and since then he’s been keeping Ichiro hidden in his closet as his secret pet and constant companion.
This is seriously the cutest thing of all time. Ryan takes care of Ichiro by putting some dinner leftovers in a bowl and sneaking them up to his room under his shirt and feeding them to the baseball superstar. He even made Ichiro a bed out of an old baby blanket and some cardboard so that the iconic Miami Marlins outfielder has somewhere cozy to curl up.
“Ichiro and I do everything together, and when I come into my room he jumps up and down excitedly because he knows I’m going to bring him some food or play a game with him,” said Ryan. “One time I was doing my homework and Ichiro was rolling around on my floor when my mom came upstairs, so I had to hide Ichiro under a bunch of clothes in the hamper to make sure she didn’t see him. Other than that, it’s been super fun to keep Ichiro as a pet, and he’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”
Ryan has shown how special his friendship is with Ichiro by faking sick so that he can stay home and roll a baseball back and forth on the floor with his secret buddy. The thoughtful kid even put an Ichiro bobblehead in the closet to keep the real Ichiro company while he’s at school.
Talk about an adorable pair! Ryan clearly values his number one pal, because he puts in all the legwork to make sure that his parents don’t find out about Ichiro and give him away. Here’s hoping that they don’t find Ichiro anytime soon so that Ryan can keep raising one of the best hitters in baseball history in his closet for as long as possible!
