Last season, Ichiro Suzuki – the world’s all-time hit-leader – retired from Major League Baseball after playing two final games with the Mariners in Japan at the start of the regular season. Of course, if it were up to him, he would’ve stayed out there on a professional diamond for at least another 5 seasons.
Ichiro Wants to Play Until He’s At Least 50 Years Old! https://t.co/Y30DMQyUrm pic.twitter.com/kHZzN4Cfvz
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) February 18, 2019
Now 46, Ichiro never quite made it to the 50-year bench mark, but he’s apparently not ready to hang up the cleats. As the title suggests, Ichiro returned to the field as an amateur on Sunday, “batting and pitching in a sandlot-level game against a team of high school teachers.” No, really.
Check it out:
Suzuki started for his team – yeah, like on the mound – striking out 16 batters and walking none over a full 9.0 inning shutout. He also went 3-4 with a walk at the plate (I mean … he wasn’t going to miss a multi-hit game opportunity, right?
“I can still make it work,” Suzuki said.
No kidding.
You can read more about the event right here from Kyodo News.