It was a big weekend in Seattle, as the Seattle Mariners officially inducted one of their legends, Ichiro Suzuki, into their Hall of Fame.
He had a fantastic career in which he hit for a .311 batting average, collected 3,089 hits, and posted a 60.0 WAR.
But during his induction speech, Ichiro didn’t make it all about himself.
Instead, he chose to show one of his former teammates some praise in Ken Griffey Jr.
He talked about how he idolized Griffey, even before he came to the United States to play and what he learned from him as a young player watching him go about his business.
Ichiro Praises The Kid
Both Ichiro and Griffey were two of the greatest players to ever wear the Mariners uniform, and two of the greatest players to ever play the game of baseball.
It’s good to see Ichiro show his appreciation for his former teammate.
The two superstars were clearly very close friends and enjoyed playing alongside each other.
Both of them were great players in their own right and were fun for fans to watch, especially in their primes.
But it’s cool to see Ichiro divert the attention from himself and instead take time to essentially thank Griffey for everything.
Griffey was the guy that Ichiro idolized, even before joining the Mariners in 2001.
The way he went about his business was something that Ichiro wanted to emulate, and he was able to do just that.
Even though the weekend was about Ichiro, he wanted to make sure he took time to praise one of his best friends and his idol.
This was a classy gesture by the future Hall of Famer.
Now, Ichiro is forever embedded in Mariners history.
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