Those are the words of a former teammate of Ichiro’s from the Orix Blue Wave. They come in a must-read article by Wright Thompson in ESPN the Magazine about the 44-year-old future Hall of Famer’s drive to keep playing.
That drive paid off in the form of a major league deal offered by the Seattle Mariners which Ichiro accepted last week. Most people are viewing it as a nostalgia trip for the Mariners and the only way Ichiro can keep playing in America. That may or may not be true, but the desire -- which teeters on the edge of desperation -- is chronicled in detail by Thompson, who was granted access to Ichiro that no one in this country has ever had.
It’s a fascinating story giving us a glimpse at an Ichiro who, for as major a figure he has been in major league baseball over the past 17 years, is someone we know relatively little about. And even if we knew a lot about him, it chronicles a chapter of his career -- perhaps his last offseason before his whole life becomes an offseason -- for which perhaps the most prepared baseball player in the past several decades seems shockingly unprepared.
If you read nothing else today, read this.
