Ichiro Suzuki retirement: Asia’s greatest professional athlete and pioneer takes his final bow
- Japanese player ends his 28-year career in his country’s capital
- A rapturous crowd of 47,000 says goodbye to its hero
Arguably the most accomplished and influential Asian athlete ever, Ichiro Suzuki has officially called it quits.
At the time, Ichiro was floundering in his return to the Mariners after seven years away playing for the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. A couple of days after the opening series was revealed, the Mariners announced that Ichiro would be moving from the field to the front office as special assistant to the chairman. But he was not, repeat not, retiring as a player.
Fast forward to late March 2019 when in front of a rapturous crowd of 47,000, Ichiro was lifted in the eighth inning of a tie game.
You can spend the better part of a year planning for this moment and it will still get away from you. This was history and raw emotion on so many different levels.