Ichiro to Retire from Major League Baseball

Ichiro Suzuki with the Miami Marlins. Photo by Albert Pena/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

After a pioneering career, Ichiro Suzuki is finally hanging up his spikes.

The surefire Hall of Fame outfielder informed his team, the Seattle Mariners, that his playing days have ended after the first two games of the season in his native Japan.

Ichiro played two games in front of adoring fans at the Tokyo Dome in the MLB Opening Series against the Oakland A’s this week. He went 0-6 with two walks.

Mariners manager Scott Servais substituted him in the eighth inning of Thursday’s game to a rousing ovation.

Ichiro, who is now 45 years old, had a distinguished career which was split between the Nippon Professional League in Japan and MLB in the United States.

He began playing for the Orix BlueWave in Japan in 1992 at only 18 years old. He played until 2000 in the NPL, dominating the league with a .353 batting average and seven Gold Glove awards.

Suzuki made the switch to MLB in 2001 with the Seattle Mariners and became one of the best players in the league, and certainly the best Japanese player in the history of MLB.

He finishes his career as a 10-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove award winner, and also with one MVP and Rookie of the Year trophy.

He also holds the record for the number of hits in a single season, with 262 in 2004.

He finishes with a .311 career MLB batting average, 3,089 hits, and 509 stolen bases.

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