7:02 am | March 21, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
TOKYO — Ichiro Suzuki has left the game.
The 45-year-old Seattle Mariners star announced his retirement Thursday night, shortly after waving goodbye at the Tokyo Dome during a 5-4 win over Oakland in 12 innings. Ichiro went 0-for-4 and was pulled from right field in the eighth, saluting his adoring fans in the packed crowd. He drew hugs — some of them tearful — from teammates in a three-minute walk that signaled to all his great career had ended.
The outfielder said in a statement after the game that he had “achieved so many of my dreams in baseball, both in my career in Japan and, since 2001, in Major League Baseball.”
He added that he was “honored to end my big league career where it started, with Seattle, and think it is fitting that my last games as a professional were played in my home country of Japan.”
Ichiro was a 10-time All-Star in the majors. He got 3,089 hits over a 19-year career in the big leagues after getting 1,278 while starring in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 is a professional record.
After the Mariners took the field in the bottom of the eighth inning, all the players except Suzuki left for the dugout. Ichiro then waved to the crowd before leaving his right field position for defensive replacement Braden Bishop, who was making his major league debut. He received a standing ovation from the crowd and hugs from his Seattle teammates.
Ichiro was 0-4, with one strikeout. In his final at-bat he grounded out to short.
After the game, which Seattle won the game 5-4 in 12 innings, Ichiro received more handshakes and hugs from teammates.
Many expected Ichiro to retire after the Japan series or when the Mariners returned home for two spring training games with the San Diego Padres before the regular season resumes against the Boston Red Sox.
Japanese fans had been hoping it would not be the end of his career, but they knew it was likely. In Japan, they also thought that when Ichiro played here in 2012 with the Mariners — also against the Athletics — and had four hits in one game.
“Seven years ago, it appeared he had played for the last time in Japan,” Fumihiro Fujisawa, head of the Japanese Association of Baseball Research, told The Associated Press. “I don’t think anybody believed he would be active now.”
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