If there is one thing you can say about sports superstars, I mean the real superstars, is that they have a lot of class. People like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Ichiro Suzuki all seem to feel as if they must go to great pains to appear calm, relaxed, and soft-spoken, otherwise their superhuman abilities have the potential of making them look like inhuman freaks. Unfortunately, however, superstars have a hard time getting their mere mortal relatives to get with the superstar program. One case in point is Nobuyuki Suzuki, father of Ichiro.

According to an editorial by noted sports editor Jack Gallagher in The Japan Times, Ichiro’s lawyers tried to stop publication of The Meaning of Ichiro, a book by Robert Whiting, an acclaimed author of numerous books about Japanese baseball.

A source has told The Japan Times that last December a legal team for baseball superstar Ichiro Suzuki demanded that Hayakawa Publishing Co., stop publication of the Japanese edition of “The Meaning of Ichiro,” claiming infringement of Ichiro’s image and publicity rights, copyright violation and invasion of privacy.

It appears that Ichiro’s father, Nobuyuki, was behind the maneuver — which failed — and hoped to cash in on the proceeds from the book following his son’s record-setting season with the Seattle Mariners in 2004.

The only problem is, The Meaning of Ichiro is not an Ichiro biography or even a book about Ichiro. According to author Whiting:

The Meaning of Ichiro does not stand for ‘The Story of Ichiro.’ He is a symbolic figure who, because of all the attention he has gotten, represents the upward rise of the Japanese ballplayer in the MLB, which is the theme of my book.

Two of the 10 chapters in the book are about him. What I find curious is why there was no similar letter sent to the U.S. publisher.

Ichiro’s father has long been known to put as much effort into snaring a buck as his son puts into shagging fly balls. He once demanded 100,000 yen for an interview with ESP.com, and charges people 900 yen a head to visit “The Ichiro Exhibition Room” at his home and view Ichiro artifacts. Contrast this with the (New York Yankees) “Hideki Matsui Baseball Museum,” which is operated by Matsui’s father and allows visitors in for free.