New Hall Of Famer Ichiro Suzuki’s Time With The New York Yankees Was Brief And Productive

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The 2013 New York Yankees were an injury-plagued group who used 57 players and won 85 games while celebrating the end of Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera’s career. The 2014 Yankees were less injured, used 59 players and celebrated the end of Derek Jeter’s career while winning 84 times.

One of the consistent performers on those otherwise unmemorable non-playoff teams was Ichiro Suzuki.

Ichiro was a lock to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame on his first try the moment he retired and when he does officially get inducted it will be as a Seattle Mariner along with CC Sabathia, who will go in a Yankee.

Often there are cases where storied players end their careers with teams they are not necessarily associated with but Ichiro’s career after his days in Seattle was nothing like Babe Ruth playing for the Boston Braves in 1935.

While Ruth played 28 games for the 115-loss Braves and hit .181 in those games, Ichiro’s time with the Yankees was highly productive as he played his age-39 and age-40 seasons in a stretch when the Yankees appeared only in the 2015 wild-card game as their lone postseason appearance from 2013 through 2016.

The Yankees acquired Ichiro in July 2012 while they were in Seattle, which allowed fans to give him a standing ovation immediately. He was acquired after asking for a trade to experience winning again and the Mariners were 42-55 when the trade was made en route to a 75-87 finish, marking their eighth losing season in 10 years after winning 302 times in Ichiro’s first three seasons from 2001 through 2003.

“Getting someone like that is unbelievable,” Jeter said in the immediate aftermath of the deal.

And it was.

In 67 games over the final two months of the regular season, Ichiro batted .322, finishing that season with a .283 average and playing every game for the fourth time in a career where he never played fewer than 136 games. He also was the only Yankee hit to in the four-game sweep by the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS when he batted 6-for-17 (.353) on a team who batted .157 and got outscored 19-6 in a humbling four-game sweep.

In 2013, the Yankees returned some of their veterans but only got a combined 93 games from Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira. Robinson Cano, who later twice tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, was their best player statistically with a .314 average, 27 homers and 107 RBIs in 160 games.

Ichiro was not the .300 hitter he was earlier in his career but was second on the Yankees with 150 games, third with a 2.1 WAR, third in plate appearances and third in at-bats. He also was second on the team with 20 stolen bases, reaching at least 20 in 13 straight seasons.

“It’s a little sweeter seeing Ichiro join CC in the same Hall of Fame class. Ichiro’s impact on baseball globally cannot be understated,” managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement Tuesday. “He was one of the most uniquely skilled and talented players to ever play this sport, and I feel incredibly fortunate that his career path landed him in pinstripes.”

Along the way, he produced a few memorable moments, hitting a walk off homer to beat the Texas Rangers on June 25, 2013, capping a night where Yu Darvish faced off against Hiroki Kuroda and Cashman told ESPN Alex Rodriguez should shut the expletive up about his timeline for returning from a hip injury.

In an otherwise run of the mill doubleheader against the disappointing 73-89 Toronto Blue Jays in August, Ichiro reached 4,000 combined hits in Japan and the United States with a clean single.

“It’s just a testament to how hard he’s worked, how long he’s been in the game, how he stays healthy and the way he goes about his business,” former manager Joe Girardi said at the time. “He’s a great player. He’s been a great player for a long time.”

In 2014, the Yankees were without Rodriguez due to his PED suspension, Jeter was on his retirement tour that ended with his memorable game-ending hit off Baltimore’s Evan Meek and the Yankees did not see their signings of Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury return them to the postseason.

On a mediocre team, Ichiro appeared in 143 games, the fourth-most on the team and his .284 average was the highest amongst regulars who were there for the entire season. While his run of 20-stolen base seasons ended, Ichiro still stole 15 bases in his age-40 campaign.

He was diminished from what the start of his career looked like but even an older version of Ichiro was something special to watch in two average seasons for the Yankees