Mariners Have Retired Ichiro’s No. 51 this Weekend

The Seattle Mariners have finally retired Ichiro’s and Randy Johnson’s #51 jersey on August 8th, 2025! The Mariners’ ballpark was sold out as they faced the Rays on Sunday night. Regardless of the outcome, Mariners fans will see legends honored today, and today we’ll do the same.

 Looking Back on Ichiro Suzuki

Anyone could write 100,000 words about how much of a baseball player the Japanese man is. Three thousand eighty-nine hits and 10 golden gloves say enough as it is. His two AL hitting championships and three Silver Sluggers help, too. His biggest accomplishment, though, would be breaking the MLB single-season hit record with 292 hits in 2004.

This is all due to his unique hitting style. He is one of the few left-handed batters ever and has one of the purest hitting techniques of any player ever. Being the only player in the integration era ever to have 5 seasons of 220+ hits. He’s also known for his incredible arm, which can clock a 91 MPH throw, because he was interested in pitching earlier in his career and directly paved the way for Ohtani.

Statistically, he might’ve impacted the game more than any player in baseball history. So it should say that much more when I say that his impact goes far beyond the stat sheet or even on the field. He told himself that he’s never been intimidated by any pitchers in the MLB and goes to himself for hitting advice in a slump.

Ichiro’s Biggest Impact Was Introducing Baseball to Japan

Ichiro was the first-ever Japanese position player to play in the MLB, and with his MVP form off the bat (ha), he both shocked Americans who assumed the MLB was by far the best league in the world and made himself a media sensation in Japan. After him, a ton of stars from the NPB, Japan’s top baseball league, came over and became mainstays in the MLB, like Hideki Matsui, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Masahiro Tanaka, and, Shohei Ohtani. Something only possible because of how dominant Ichiro was from the jump, and this year he has continued to make history, becoming the 1st Japanese player to be elected into the MLB HOF.

 What Makes Him Unique is his Personality

Ichiro is the perfect mix of science and sentimentality, not in that he’s an ideal mix of the two but manages to exist on the far ends of both at the same time. Ichiro traveled with a custom-made dehumidifier for his bats and adjusted it for the local climate. And did something that, for such an ancient side of the game, was very simple, which was thought impossible at the time.

He innovated what it meant to be a baseball player on offense—having more singles up the middle or singles in general than anybody. Or more hits to the opposite side of the field than anybody else. Ichiro didn’t even have a preferred side of the field, hitting to the left or right side of the field nearly equally.

Plus, he made more infield hits than anybody, making any ground ball exciting. But never risked using that incredible speed to become an elite base stealer. He managed to stay so healthy and consistent. Tom Brady reached out to Ichiro in 2017 to ask about his workout routine. Ichiro, who had lived in the States for 16 years, had no idea who he was.

Final Thoughts

While his sentimental side once felt so incredibly guilty about throwing his bat in anger that he went back to his hotel room, tucked it into the bed that night, and wrote a letter of apology to its manufacturer. He also loved to visit casual local restaurants on away days that were staples of the cities he was visiting. And after Ken Griffey Jr. returned to Seattle in 2009, the Hall of Famers, who were known to be very withdrawn from their teams, became fast and inseparable friends.

No doubt in part because Ichiro had wanted to play with Junior for years while he was still in Japan. And back in 2017, when he was in Miami, when asked about retirement, he said, ‘I think I’ll just die.’ Luckily, he didn’t and now lives to see himself honored by the Mariners and the MLB. Thanks a bunch for reading!