Can somebody please introduce Ichiro to Brady?

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Ichiro Suzuki and Tom Brady each burst on to the scene in 2001. After Suzuki won the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP award, Brady led the Patriots to their first Super Bowl title that season.

Their careers have flourished since. Suzuki so much so that he's one of those rare athletes recognized by just his first name. Brady (five-time Super Bowl champion, three-time NFL MVP) is still going. The playing career of Ichiro (3,089 hits, 10-time All-Star) likely ended last week when he took a front office position with the Seattle Mariners. 

Brady recognized Ichiro's remarkable longevity and conditioning last year. Ichiro doesn't recognize Brady.

In a story on Ichiro by Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons now of The Athletic comes this anecdote about one future Hall of Famer reaching out to another last year:

One morning in spring training 2017, he was in the coaches' room looking at his cell phone text messages. Ichiro told the coaches about one message he just received from a number he did not recognize. The guy said he'd gotten his number from Alex Rodriguez, and that he wanted to come meet him and study his stretching system.

"What's the guy's name?" asked one of the coaches.

Ichiro scrolled to the end of the text. "Some guy named Tom Brady. Who the f--- is Tom Brady?"

So, those pictures from the Met Gala this week probably wouldn't help him recognize TB12 either.

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