Ichiro won't play the rest of the season, but he won't retire as a Mariner until 'I start using a cane'

Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki sat next to each other in the Seattle Mariners closed clubhouse this spring.

The three Seattle Mariners and three should-be Hall of Famers were displayed in front of the team when manager Scott Servais asked each of the three the same question.

If you could tell anything to your younger self, what would that be and what would you do over again?

Ichiro’s response was one of Servais’ favorite moments of the 44-year-old so far. Of all the experiences, super-stardom status in both Japan and the U.S., broken records and accolades, Ichiro's message to his teammates:

Do not take anything for granted.

“I wanted to tell them, 11-and-a-half years I was here (in Seattle) and the things I went through – it was normal,” Ichiro said Thursday through interpreter Allen Turner. “I sit here in front of you guys, the media, some media write good things or bad things – I don’t know. But the fact that I see each and every one of your faces, that’s something you don’t realize until you miss it.

“In the five-and-a-half years I was gone, all of those things that are normal and the things that you are accustomed to, coming to the ball park – it’s gone. In those five-and-a-half years I experienced that.

“So those are the things I wanted to tell my teammates. I wanted to tell them don’t take things for granted because tomorrow this might be it. So before you lose it, make sure you understand that and allow yourself to experience that and relish it.”

Ichiro’s role officially changed on Thursday. One day he’s starting against the Oakland Athletics and batting with the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the bottom of the ninth inning – in an at-bat he knew would be the last of his 2018 season, even if nobody chanting “Ichi-RO” in the Safeco Field stands knew – and the next he’s moving into a non-roster role called "special assistant to the chairman."

No, the Mariners aren’t exactly sure what that means, either. They’re hoping to figure that out as they go.

“He’ll continue to prepare like he’s a player,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “You’ll see him out here taking batting practice and I feel like this transition, it can occur in such an organic way that it’ll never seem like he’s no longer playing until the game starts and he’s no longer in the lineup.”

And Ichiro’s spirit hadn’t wavered. He sat at the press conference table suited in a Mariners jersey and later took batting practice as if he was still on the team.

It’s certainly as unique of a transition as there’s been in major-league baseball history, from starting to advising in the span of a day – yet Ichiro was adamant he’s not retiring yet.

“When I start using a cane, that’s a time that I think I should retire,” Ichiro said.

He can’t sit in the dugout during the game They said he could be working in the video room, helping hitting coach Edgar Martinez or assisting players in the batting cages and assisting in high performance, especially with the way Ichiro has meticulously prepared for games and kept his body right to keep himself playing as a 44-year-old.

Not that he won’t find creative ways to weasel himself into the dugout.

“I can’t say for certain that maybe I won’t put on a beard and glasses and be like Bobby Valentine and be in the dugout,” Ichiro said.

The Mariners began formulating proper exit strategies with Ichiro from the day he signed, and those intensified the past two weeks since Ben Gamel returned from the disabled list, Dipoto said. Their outfield is set with Gamel, Guillermo Heredia and Mitch Haniger all coming off their rookie seasons in 2017, and the Mariners added Ichiro’s former Miami Marlins teammate Dee Gordon to transition him to center field.

There just wasn’t a spot for Ichiro, anymore, despite him being the only player in major league history with 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons, including the single-season record 262 hits he accumulated in 2004, breaking George Sisler’s record and later paying his respects at Sisler’s grave site.

But he said he wouldn’t have returned to the Mariners if he didn’t see himself continuing to play beyond this season. He spent almost 12 years here when he first arrived from Japan in 2001, earning American League rookie of the year and MVP in his first season with the Mariners.

“Obviously I’m in a different situation now,” Ichiro said. “But I definitely see myself playing again and that’s why I’m going to continue to practice and work to do the things I need to do to continue to get better. It’s hard for me to imagine not playing.”

His former manager, Bob Melvin, spoke about his relationship with Ichiro, even while he’s now the Oakland Athletics’ manager.

“He’s one of the greatest players in the history of the game, if not the greatest hitter, just for the volume of hits worldwide,” Melvin said. “And he’s the most committed player I’ve ever had. I mean, his whole day and night and everything he thought about was about the next day’s game and being prepared for it.”

Melvin said he and Ichiro often have dinner together whenever their teams play each other. Ichiro’s wife, Yumiko Fukushima, and Melvin’s, Kelley Melvin, are just as close as the manager and player are.

“And that bond was really from Day One,” Melvin said.

“To come over here and pave the way for a lot of Japanese players, what he and Hideo Nomo did is not easy. That was a great challenge, and if there’s another challenge that’s put in front of him (like returning to the playing field), it would not surprise me if he was able to conquer that.”

The Mariners open their 2019 season with a two-game series in Tokyo, Japan, and Ichiro said his goal is to be playing for them that week, and the Mariners can expand their active roster from 25 to 28 players for the trip, Dipoto said.

But he said he has no regrets on re-signing with the Mariners. Just the opposite.

“It’s been two-and-a-half months since I’ve come back and this is the happiest I’ve been in the 18-year career I’ve had,” Ichiro said. “Obviously, with my teammates and how great they’ve been and how much they mean to me and how much I want to help is the reason I wanted to stay on and help in any way I can.”

Dipoto said Ichiro is like the Dalai Lama of the Mariners.

“You see it on the flights,” Dipoto said. “He’ll sit down in his chair and immediately Dee Gordon is sitting next to him and Mitch Haniger is turning sideway and he’s across the row. The guy in front of him is leaning back in his seat. It’s almost like they’re all waiting for him to opine from the mountain top. He’s got a great presence about him.

“When I met Ichiro in Peoria, which is the first time I’d met him face to face, he walked in and had more presence than any other baseball player I’ve ever met. And I’ve been doing this my entire adult life.”

And he said he hasn’t experienced a role like this with the Mariners before, embracing more of a mentorship duty. He’s quiet, not liking to speak or intrude unless spoken to. It’s something he said he plans to work on.

“They are obviously younger and I guess you could call them almost cute kids,” Ichiro said of his teammates. “They’ve been very warm and it’s been a great situation. And I have a manager who has a lot of heart and who cares about the players. I haven’t felt this way – what I feel now is I want to do whatever I can for our manager and I haven’t felt that way in a long time to really want to play that hard for a human being. And he’s definitely one of them.”

And he joked that the most disappointing part of this is not being able to pitch against Los Angeles Angels rookie Shohei Ohtani, the 23-year-old, two-way star who is in his first year out of Japan.

“Yes, No. 1 – that’s definitely the one I wanted to do,” Ichiro said.

But this is a proper send-off for Ichiro, and allows him to go out on his own terms — whenever he’s finally ready to move on, while still allowing him to work with the team and work on his own craft like he’s always done.

“The two of us, Ichiro and the Mariners, are linked together in perpetuity,” Dipoto said. “And we want it to be that way.

“At whatever point he transitions into a full-time front-office guy, I’m supposing there’s going to be an hour-long lunch break where he throws on some shorts and goes down and takes batting practice. He is wired that way.

“And this doesn’t close the door on Ichiro’s playing career. I’d like make that clear. We intend that whenever is the appropriate time for Ichiro to retire, that will happen as a Mariner. But we don’t think we’re at that point yet.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2018 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Ichiro won't play the rest of the season, but he won't retire as a Mariner until 'I start using a cane'."