When Bryan Woo gets to the field every day, Ichiro Suzuki is already there. Taking batting practice. Shagging fly balls. Playing catch. He hangs around after too, offering any advice he can to the current generation of Mariners players.

“Lou Piniella was very skeptical,” said Larry Stone, a Seattle Times baseball writer who has covered Ichiro’s career extensively. “That spring training, Ichiro started off not pulling the ball, not driving the ball. And Lou was like, ‘Who is this guy? When is he going to show me something?’”

Ichiro will transition into a role deemed "Special Assistant to the Chairman," where he will work with the Mariners' major-league staff and front office. But his agent insists Ichiro is not retiring.

Ichiro’s charisma accompanied an incredible performance on the field, one that came with no discernable adjustment period. Among his many accomplishments, he became only the second player in Major League history to win his league’s Rookie of the Year Award and MVP Award in the same year, joining Boston's Fred Lynn (1975).

This weekend, Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki will become the first Asian player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Seattle Mariners have already announced their plans to retire No. 51 in honor of Ichiro Suzuki. Now, they plan to do it again for a different player.

Mariners Announce Plan to Retire Ichiro's No. 51 Shortly After Hall of Fame Announcement Ichiro is set to receive another honor after he was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee.

But his standing as one of Seattle’s most accomplished players, and his “positive impact in enhancing the image of the Seattle Mariners and/or Major League Baseball” will make Ichiro the ...