Farewell, Ichiro. And thanks

Ichiro Suuki bows at the end of his postgame press
conference at which he announced his retirement.

I was up and at-em early enough Thursday morning to watch Ichiro Suzuki's final professional at-bat and to watch his teammates greet him outside the dugout as he left the field. Some had tears. So did I.

These season-opening games in Japan, about a week before the rest of the major league schedule gets underway, always feel a little gimmicky to me. And Ichiro's very presence on the Seattle roster after a 2018 in which he barely played, had some of the same artifical flavor.

And still, I'm pleased it worked out that way. Pleased that this great player got to go out in his homeland, in the uniform of the American team for which he won an MVP and became a star on this side of the Pacific. Pleased that Japan got to see him one more time.

A younger Ichiro might have beaten out the soft grounder he hit in his final at-bat, but he's 45 now. He ceased being a full-time player some time ago -- his last season with 500 plate appearances was 2013 -- but he accepted a reserve role with grace and dignity. Indeed, he did pretty much everything with grace and dignity.

I will miss seeing him play. I am grateful to have seen him play.

Pic of the Week

The Seattle Mariners celebrate James Paxson's
no-hitter in Toronto.

New week, new Ichiro photo. And there's a lot here to unpack.

Ichiro's in uniform, but he's not really part of the team anymore, so while everybody else is in a mass hug of James Paxson, he's set apart but still there. I wonder how awkward it is around him these days.

His pose brought to mind the famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue that overlooks Rio de Janeiro, as if he is supplying his blessing to the celebration.

Pic of the Week

The great Ichiro Suzuki's 2018 season is done, but
his playing career -- probably -- isn't quite over

Ichiro Suzuki is no longer on the active roster of the Seattle Mariners. He is a "special assistant to the chairman" of the team. But he will still don a uniform before games, take part in batting practice, shag fly balls -- then, when the game begins, vacate the field and dugout.

He's not officially retired. The M's will open the 2019 season with a short series in Japan against the Oakland Athletics, and it appears the plan is for Ichiro to get a few at-bats in that series as a final coda to his brilliant career.

Ichiro is 44, and his days as a star or even as a regular are well in the past. Last year he came one hit short of the record for pinch hits in a season, which suggests that he was still a useful player, if only in a bit role.

But what a player he was at his best. I'm glad I got to see him play.

On Ichiro and late starts

Ichiro Suzuki bangs out a double Wednesday in San Diego.

Ichiro Suzuki is having quite a season. The 42-year-old outfielder is hitting .349 as of this morning, and even without power (six doubles and no other extra-base hits) his OPS (On-base Plus Slugging) is a respectable .807.

His two hits Wednesday against the Padres put his combined totals -- Japan and MLB -- past Pete Rose's MLB totals. No, that doesn't give Ichiro "the record." Suzuki has 2,979 MLB hits and 1,278 in the Japan Pacific League. If we really want to add the two up and compare to Rose, it's fair to give Rose credit for his 301 minor league hits. And Ty Cobb credit for his 166 minor league hits ...

We don't, of course, because these leagues are not directly comparable.

This hardly detracts from Ichrio's accomplishments. He's almost certain to pass 3.000 hits this year -- that's made-in-the-USA (and Canada) MLB base knocks, which is pretty impressive even without considering that he didn't get to play in North America until he was already 27. There can't be any serious question that he was capable of hitting well in MLB well before then.

His late start here reminds me of Lefty Grove. Grove won 300 games with the Athletics and Red Sox, pitched 17 years in the majors. But he also won 111 games in the minors, 108 of them for the Baltimore Orioles in the International League at a time predating farm systems. The Orioles were a minor league team, yes, but they were better than many major league clubs. Jack Dunn built an absolute powerhouse and he wasn't letting his stars go easily after being forced by finances to sell off a young Babe Ruth.

Grove won 25 games for Baltimore in 1921, 18 in 1922, 27 in '23, 26 in '24. At which point the other IL owners, tired of getting hammered year after year by the Orioles, voted to subject their league to the major league draft, and Dunn was forced to sell off his stars rather than lose them for a pittance.

Which gave Grove enough MLB time to get to a round-number milestone, get inducted into the Hall of Fame, establish a record that echoes decades after his death. But he didn't get to start building that major league record until he was already 25.

Pic of the Week

A clean-shaven Ichiro Suzuki acknowledges the ovation
from the Seattle crowd before his first at-bat with the
New York Yankees.

Of all the deadline trades to date and to come, only one figures to involve a franchise icon, a sure-fire Hall of Famer.

While the sight of Ichiro Suzuki in a Yankees uniform is emotionally grotesque, the trade makes sense for all three parties.

The Mariners have resolved what I call "the Ripken dilemma" — the issue of what to do with a fading face-of-the-franchise.

Ichiro, nearing the end of his brilliant career, gets a shot at the World Series.

The Yankees get a reasonable replica to fill in for the injured Brett Gardner.

Ichiro is no longer Ichiro!, and that was a problem for the Mariners.  They could no longer be built around him — not effectively, at any rate — and their shared history made a secondary role for him almost impossible.

The Yankees aren't tied to his past. And they don't need him to be great (although they certainly won't object if he has a three-month flashback to his prime).

Gardner is a pale imitation of Ichiro at his best, but at this stage of their respective careers, a healthy Gardner is better than Ichiro. Gardner being unable to play, Ichiro is an upgrade on the Yankees' alternatives.

Ichiro is said to have initiated the trade himself, and it's believable if only for the checklist of concessions he agreed to:

• He'll play left field, not his accustomed right.
• He'll hit at the bottom of the order, not at the top.
• He'll be clean-shaven.
• He'll wear No. 31, not his favored 51.

So this works for everybody, except for those of us sentimentalists who'd prefer to know the star only in one uniform.