Ichiro Suzuki. Respect.

If you know me, you know I love a few things passionately. 

Sci-Fi.
Swords and sorcery.
Superheroes.

And baseball.  For a Canadian kid, I'm a bit of an oddity but hockey lost its luster for me a long time ago.  Baseball though...

Talk to anyone who loves the game and there's inevitably a wistful and reverent tone that creeps into the conversation when certain names come up.  Names like Ruth, Cobb, Gerhig define one generation, Mantle, Robinson, Williams another.  For my generation you would've thought Sosa, McGuire and Bonds would be the names we'd be wistful for years later, but of course that all fell apart when they broke our hearts.

Instead and to my great relief, new greater heroes came along to save the game I love.  That reverent, wistful tone comes to me and my generation when we talk about Cal Ripken, a man I credit with saving the game single handed after the strike and the juice.  I hear it starting to creep in there when I mention Mookie Betts, the best player in the current game in my opinion.  Of course (even though they're Yankees), Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.  And then there's Ichiro.  My, oh my, Ichiro.

I can remember the year he came to the "Big Leagues" and showed the homerun heavy lineups of modern baseball that the base hit, stolen base and defense are still relevant and still win games.  I was young and so was my love of the game.  That season he came to Seattle was beyond special and one large component of the puzzle that makes up my love of the game. 

Ichiro, this small statured man among giants, was a revelation.  They hammered the ball.  He placed it in play where he wanted it to go. They swung for the fences.  He aimed and fired base hits.  He played "small ball" in a way that the game hadn't seen in decades.

The modern incarnation of Ty Cobb without the nasty attitude.  All business, the greatest work ethic in professional sport, a ready smile and enough class for a whole country.  In an era that values the longball and doesn't pay attention to strike out numbers any more, Ichiro seems like a throwback. 

If he's a throwback, I want more throwbacks.  Any game with him playing during his prime and most of the years after, there was always excitement, always interest.  Don't look away, Ichiro's hitting this inning...

I watched him retire today.  It was the end of an era to be sure, but I hope someone comes along to bring it around again.  Not only will his presence be missed, the type of game he played will be missed.

Respect.