SEATTLE -- No. 51 didn’t mean anything to Ichiro Suzuki when he was drafted in 1991.
Like all of the Orix Blue Wave’s picks, he was assigned a number. Ichiro just happened to get No. 51.
Saturday -- 34 years after his debut in Japan, six years after his final game, two weeks after becoming the first Japanese player enshrined in the Hall of Fame -- Ichiro walked onto the field from behind the center-field wall at T-Mobile Park, to the roar of a packed crowd. To his back was a banner draped over the batter’s eye, with his picture and the slogan “Simply the Best,” but the first two letters were replaced with a 51. He walked through the grass, splitting perfectly between the 5 and the 1 that had been manicured into the outfield. It was displayed along the first- and third-base lines, on the video board, on signs throughout the stadium.
And over his right shoulder, beyond the left-center wall, there stood No. 51, retired next to Edgar Martinez’s No. 11, Ken Griffey Jr.'s No. 24 and Jackie Robinson’s No. 42.
“Obviously an incredible day for Ichiro, an incredible honor to have a number retired,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Just to see him be honored because of the player and person that he is. Obviously Cooperstown was a big part of that, but there’s something a little more special when it’s in front of the home folks. It’s going to be fun to see the reaction today for Ichiro.”
And that was the exact sentiment Ichiro began with as he addressed the crowd -- in his second speech in English in two weeks -- echoing Griffey's famous words:
“I’m damn proud to be a Seattle Mariner.”
Like Griffey, Ichiro broke into the national spotlight with the Mariners, before leaving Seattle late in his career. But after his brief stops in New York and Miami, he returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2018, where he recorded 2,542 of his 3,089 hits in the Majors.
“Just like him, I realized by going away that there really is no place like home,” Ichiro said.
Now, that No. 51 will stay home at T-Mobile Park forever.
Soon, though, it’ll have company. Because while No. 51 became meaningful to Ichiro after nine years with the Blue Wave, it had meaning of a different sort -- for a different star -- in Seattle.
So for the majority of his 20-minute speech Saturday, Ichiro addressed the franchise’s other No. 51, who took in the ceremony sitting with the other members of the Mariners Hall of Fame: Randy Johnson.
“When you said 51 in Seattle, you knew it meant Randy Johnson for his many great achievements from 1989 to 1998 in that uniform,” Ichiro said. “When I came here in 2001, I could never have worn that number without Randy’s consent. He gave it and he gave it graciously.”
Earlier this summer, the Mariners announced they would honor Johnson -- who won the first of his five Cy Young Awards in Seattle -- next season, retiring No. 51 a second time.
“I’m grateful to Randy for attending my ceremony today,” Ichiro said. “It will be my great honor to attend his next season.”
Though the honors aren’t over for Ichiro, either. Addressing the crowd ahead of the outfielder’s speech, Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton announced that Ichiro will join Griffey and Martinez in being honored with a statue outside T-Mobile Park.
Ichiro’s presence has loomed over this whole season in Seattle, since he was officially elected to Hall of Fame in January -- one vote shy of unanimously -- in his first year on the ballot. On Opening Day, the Mariners unveiled a countdown banner next to the upper deck in right-center field, tracking the days until his enshrinement. That countdown hit zero two weeks ago, when he headlined the ceremony in Cooperstown, leaving the ranks of legends he was joining in awe.
But while that took place in the home of baseball history, it happened over 2,800 miles from where Ichiro actually made history. It was a celebration of Ichiro the pioneer, the history-maker, the baseball legend.
Saturday was a celebration of Ichiro, the Seattle staple, the Mariners icon.
“It’s just special,” said Dominic Canzone, when asked about starting in right field as the franchise honored one of the greatest to ever play the position. “I grew up watching him play. My favorite player was Griffey. But between watching Griffey and watching Ichiro, those were some special teams to watch. Having the 51 logo out there, it’s just awesome to play on this field.”
Canzone and the rest of the Mariners took in the pregame ceremony crammed into the home dugout. Across the field, most of the Rays watched as well.
“His first year I would have been 5, 6 years old, and some of my oldest baseball memories do circle around the Mariners in that time,” said Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, who hails from Puyallup, Wash. “Really cool to have the opportunity to watch him, a childhood hero of mine. It’s just one of those things that’s a really cool experience to get to be here and get to witness him be remembered as a Mariner great forever.”
It was an evening to honor a great of the game, to cement a legacy and to show just what No. 51 has come to mean to the city of Seattle and the Mariners organization.
“Congratulations on being inducted into the Hall of Fame and having your number retired,” Griffey told his friend on the videoboard at the beginning of the ceremony. “It’s about damn time. I mean, what took you so long? I’ve been there for five years.”