Drayer: Re-living when Mariners’ Ichiro wrapped up his HOF career

With baseball season delayed for the foreseeable future, 710 ESPN Seattle is broadcasting a different classic Mariners game every night. This week is Ichiro Week, highlighting big moments from the future Hall of Famer’s career. Today, Mariners insider Shannon Drayer details the day Ichiro played the final game of his Hall of Fame career. Hear the broadcast at 7 p.m. on 710 ESPN Seattle.

March 21, 2019, Tokyo Dome

The finale of the two game series against the Oakland A’s and more notably, the finale of a Hall of Fame career.

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Forty-five year old Ichiro Suzuki was to take the field as an active player for the last time. After playing 2,653 games in MLB and 951 in the NPB, this was it. Ichiro had talked for years about playing until he was 50 or perhaps even matched the 51 on the back of his uniform, a declaration that at first sounded ridiculous but not too long after the “what ifs” would creep into your mind despite your better judgment. Still, if anyone could do it…

A spectacular run nonetheless. Having covered the first ten years of his MLB career I found it interesting to see the transition into a different stage of his career once he left Seattle. For years people would look at his batting practice displays and talk of Ichiro perhaps turning into a different hitter and hitting for more power when he got older but that did not happen. There was thought that he would fight to hold on and never accept a secondary role as he aged and that too did not materialize. Rather, he adjusted to the indignity (my words, not his) of having to look at lineup card on a daily basis and this appeared to benefit him greatly.

It was a different Ichiro that I encountered in the Yankees clubhouse after the trade. He was lighter. He was joking more. He took the time for full conversations. While he would probably never admit it, those around him would say that with the milestones behind him and a clubhouse full of stars, the pressure was perhaps not off but certainly lessened. It was good but somewhat frustrating to see. A relaxed Ichiro was incredibly engaging. As big as a star as he was in Seattle, and as beloved by many of the fans that he was I think it could have been even more had he shown this side of him in his first go around with the Mariners.

In this second stage of his career Ichiro took on new personal challenges, two of which stood out in particular. The first, he wanted to show that with the proper work and maintenance a player could play well into his forties. The second, he wanted to help the young players around him. One of those players that he helped was on the field with him on that final night in Tokyo.

“From the first day I met him I was star struck,” said Dee Gordon, Ichiro’s teammate in Miami. “He was my favorite player. My dad made me watch him and since then I have been infatuated with him. I wanted to learn form him. He took me in, that batting championship I won is partly because of him. To get to play with him and be as close to him as we are, it’s a surreal feeling.”

Another young player that Ichiro helped and continues to help in his current role with the Mariners, Braden Bishop, who was not in the lineup that night in Japan but would make his big league debut replacing Ichiro when he came out of the game.

Bishop and other players noted the uncertainty that night of the moment when Ichiro would come out of the game. It was a game that counted but the focus appeared to be getting Ichiro that final hit. In step back year No. 1 it was hard to find anyone who would disagree with that priority. What the Mariners players gained being a part of history that night in Japan far outweighed one possible loss in the second game of a rebuilding season.

Lineups!

Mariners

Dee Gordon, 2B
Mitch Haniger, CF
Jay Bruce, 1B
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Domingo Santana, LF
Omar Narvaez, C
Tim Beckham, SS
Ryon Healy, 3B
Ichiro, RF

Yusei Kikuchi, P

A’s

Marcus Semien, SS
Matt Chapman, 3B
Stephen Piscotty, RF
Khris Davis, DH
Chad Pinder, LF
Matt Olson, 1B
Jurickson Profar, 2B
Ramon Laureano, CF
Josh Phegley, C

Marco Estrada, P

Following the game a group of media was called down to the bullpens that were situated behind the dugout for a quick interview with Ichiro. As he spoke his former manager, A’s skipper Bob Melvin entered the room to pay his respects and behind us his teammates gathered to watch and salute him one more time. As the room cleared out a media relations member told us to quickly follow him.

“Run!”

That dash would take us to a scene that forever will be one of the top moments I witness in sports. We ran through the bullpen and then through other rooms that are normally off limits to us as media, then through the clubhouse and up the dugout steps. This is what awaited us.

The Felix perfecto is No. 1 but Ichiro’s retirement and the scene on the field after is not far behind.

Here’s what it looked like from the 4’11 perspective.#Mariners https://t.co/IDVFV5gkVQ pic.twitter.com/tuAcDCtKJ7

— Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) March 17, 2020

An unbelievable celebration of a player and an incredible ending to an incredible career. The radio call, which includes a guest appearance by Ken Griffey Jr. can be heard on Mariners Classics tonight at 7 p.m.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Shannon Drayer on Twitter.

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