The Yankees arrived in Seattle on the evening of July 22, 2012, hours after being walked off in 12 innings at the Oakland Coliseum. Ichiro Suzuki was about to become part of their roster, his belongings quietly shifted from the home clubhouse at what was then called Safeco Field to the visitors’ side.
It was a stunning trade, consummated on a steel gray Emerald City afternoon and ending Ichiro’s iconic tenure with the Mariners -- at least for a time. Seattle was young and rebuilding, and Ichiro had quietly lobbied for a new beginning, hoping for a chance to win a World Series championship.
Though a championship eluded him in New York, Ichiro’s two-plus seasons in pinstripes remain a memorable chapter of an illustrious career that saw him land one vote shy of matching Mariano Rivera as the second unanimous inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
“As a baseball player, this is the highest honor that you can achieve,” Ichiro said through an interpreter. “As a baseball player, this is definitely the top of the top.”
It is fitting, in a way, that Ichiro and CC Sabathia are members of the same Hall class. They entered the league together in 2001, when Ichiro batted .350, led the Majors in hits and flashed defensive brilliance, securing the American League’s Rookie of the Year and MVP honors.
To this day, Sabathia will jab Ichiro -- not entirely joking -- that he robbed him of an honor that otherwise could have plausibly been issued instead to the young Cleveland ace.
“I always say he stole my Rookie of the Year,” Sabathia said. “But I told him, ‘Having a chance to be teammates for two years [with the Yankees] and now be forever teammates in the Hall of Fame is super special.”
Joe Girardi, Ichiro’s manager with the Yankees from 2012-14, recalled being a player with the Cubs during Spring Training in 2001, when Ichiro’s arrival was the talk of the Cactus League.
“People were like, ‘I don’t know, he’s awfully little. Can he play?’” Girardi said. “They were saying people were going to knock the bat out of his hands.”
Suffice it to say, that didn’t happen. By the time he retired in 2019 at age 45, Ichiro had accumulated 4,367 hits -- 3,089 in the Majors and another 1,278 from his time in Japan -- while earning a reputation for his unique combination of speed, contact and discipline.
Ichiro played 360 games with the Yankees from 2012-14, batting .281/.314/.364 (311-for-1,106) with 41 doubles, six triples, 13 homers, 84 RBIs and 49 stolen bases.
“He was just an incredible player,” Girardi said. “He kept in fantastic shape. He was a funny guy. Just great to be around. He wanted to play every day, and that was probably the hardest thing for him. He was so used to playing 161 games a year, but I thought he handled it well.
“He added excitement and electricity because of his speed and the plays he made in right field, and he could steal a base when he needed to. He was a true professional. You never had to worry about him being prepared or being ready to play.”
Ichiro’s Yankees tenure overlapped with Derek Jeter’s final three seasons, and the two shared deep mutual respect.
“Most of all, I’ve admired Ichiro because he’s a model of consistency,” Jeter once said. “In my mind, the most underrated characteristic for anyone is consistency. It’s something that gets overlooked until it’s gone. I think baseball was always more than just a game to him. This was what he was born to do.”
Nine of Ichiro’s 19 career postseason games were played with the Yankees, including his only playoff homer -- a two-run shot in the ninth inning of ALCS Game 1 against the Tigers at Yankee Stadium in 2012.
He played with the Marlins from 2015-17, then returned to Seattle for 17 more games. Ichiro continues to work with the Mariners as a special assistant, which often sees him participate in pregame meetings and on-field activities.
“I’m 51 years old now, and I’m still trying to hang in there with them,” Ichiro said. “I play catch, I run, I hit, I shag. I hope that I can show them that even at this age, you can still play this game.”