Ichiro Suzuki Retires at 45: Inside His Stats, Teams, and Legendary MLB Career

Eric Lutz

March 21, 2019 2:54 PM

Ichiro Suzuki-a ten-time MLB all-star and Gold Glove winner whose dizzying success paved the way for other Japanese players in America-retired from baseball after the Seattle Mariners game against the Oakland As on Thursday, tipping his cap to a cheering Tokyo crowd as he made his emotional exit from the game he transformed over the course of his record-shattering career.

Baseball Legend Ichiro Suzuki Retires at 45

One final goodbye for a legend. Ichiro tips his cap to the Tokyo crowd as he leaves his last MLB game. pic.twitter.com/2FgBfpmIV2 - ESPN (@espn) March 21, 2019

Ichiro, one of the finest ever to play the game, had been expected to officially retire after the series. Hes been semi-retired since last year. But he made it official Thursday, capping a career that began in Japans Nippon Professional Baseball league in 1992 and carried on in the MLB for the Mariners, Yankees, and Marlins, before he returned to Seattle, where he spent the first 12 years of his American career.

Legend. pic.twitter.com/CgnaEpmLYP - Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 21, 2019

was one of the greatest hitters to play the game, finishing his NPB career with a .353 batting average and hitting a stunning .311 over the course of his MLB career. He holds the MLB record for hits in a single season, when he racked up a whopping 262 with the Mariners in 2004, and had ten consecutive 200 hit seasons. But he was also an incredible talent in the outfield, earning ten Gold Gloves over the course of his MLB career.

But statistics tell an incomplete story of the 45-year-olds legacy. Sure, hes part of the 3,000 hit club-but perhaps more importantly, he was among the first Japanese-born position players to sign to an MLB roster, and paved the way for other players who made the jump from Japan to the states. Unsurprisingly, he was the first MLB player to be inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. After an iconic career, its almost certain hell have a place in Cooperstown, too.

Ichiros longevity-more than a quarter century on the diamond-is likely due, at least in part, to his famously bonkers training and preparation regimen. He took virtually no days off, even during the offseason, and in 2017 that the last time he took a vacation was more than a decade earlier. Never again, he said. He propelled himself forward, and into the history books, by spending huge chunks of time in the batting cages - and, curiously, by famously eschewing his teams workout facilities for his own metal cargo container at team training facilities containing his workout equipment. My body is built so that if I dont work out, thats when I put more stress on my body and get more tired, he said in 2017.

But Ichiro showed his age during his appearance in the Mariners-As series in Tokyo, and ended his illustrious career on a groundout - and with a hug from fellow Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr.

Ichiro x The Kid Ken Griffey Jr. greets Ichiro in the dugout after leaving his final MLB game. pic.twitter.com/ylpOmnLTZO - SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 21, 2019

The Mariners Ichiros final game in his home country 5-4 on Thursday, largely on the pitching of Japanese rookie Yusei Kikuchi-who made his MLB debut as the trailblazing outfielder took his curtain call.

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Eric Lutz