You could say that Ichiro Suzuki had a hell of a career in the Japanese league which is also known as the Pacific Baseball League (PBL). In 1994, he was the first player to ever get 200 or more hits in a single season in the Japanese league. He batted .385 in 1994 which got him the first of seven consecutive batting titles, and 1994 was also the first of three consecutive seasons that saw him win MVP. His strong numbers led him to be called "Hit manufacturing machine" around Japan. Over nine seasons in the PBL, Ichiro recorded 1278 hits, and 118 HR's to go along with 199 SB.

He has a career slash line in the PBL of .353/.421/.522. He also only went down on strikes 333 in 3619 AB.

A new chapter

The year 2001 came along and this was the year where he transitioned from the PBL to the MLB. The Seattle Mariners picked up Ichiro and he immediately made an impact in Seattle. He recorded the most hits ever by a rookie in one season with 242 hits to go along with a .350 batting average and 56 SB, and he led the league in all categories. His phenomenal first year in the major leagues led him to receive both Rookie of the Year and MVP, which made him the second person to ever accomplish this feat. 2004 may have been the best year of his career, as he broke the single season hit record when he recorded 262 hits in the 2004 season.

This record still stands to date, and, in the past few seasons, no player has come close to 262 hits in a season. He also finished the 2004 season with 63 SB and an average of .372.

In 2012 with the Mariners were undergoing a rebuild, Ichiro requested a trade, as he wanted to be on a winning team, and he also didn't want to take a roster spot away from a younger player.

He got his request granted as the Mariners traded him to the Yankees which was the team he wanted to be traded to. In return, the Mariners received pitchers D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar, along with cash. Due to the trade, Ichiro was forced to switch from RF to LF and he was also required to change his jersey number from 51 to 31 as 51 is retired by the Yankees in respect to Bernie Williams.

In 67 games with the Yankees in 2012, he recorded a batting average of .322 which made manager Joe Girardi bat him near the top, and he also started against left-handed pitchers. With his contract ending after the 2012 season, the Yankees re-signed him to a 2 year/$13 million contract.

As his contract with the Yankees finished after the 2014 season, the Marlins signed Ichiro to a 1-year/$2 million contract for the 2015 season. The main purpose of this signing for the Marlins was to use Ichiro as a 4th outfielder as well as to have a veteran in the Marlins' clubhouse, although he did end up receiving quite a bit of playing time due to injuries to Marlins outfielders in 2015. 2015 also marked the season that Ichiro reached second place on the all-time hits list.

His tenure with the Marlins ended at the conclusion of last season, as the new ownership of the Marlins decided not to re-sign him, which set him up for free agency.

Second stint with the Mariners

Last season when the Marlins visited Seattle, Ichiro hit a HR which many thought to be his final game at SafeCo field. On Wednesday, the Mariners decided to bring Ichiro back to Seattle on a one-year contract. With his declining production at the major league level, as well as better players available on the free agent market, some were wondering if any team would sign him, but those thoughts were squashed with his recent signing with the Mariners.

The Mariners signing Ichiro was most likely done from a public relations standpoint, as Ichiro is a very popular player in Seattle and lots of people come to SafeCo field just to watch him play.

Although, he was also signed as outfield depth for the Mariners. Seattle is set to be without LF Ben Gamel for opening day as he is on the disabled list for 4-6 weeks with an oblique strain. Ichiro is expected to be the opening day LF for the Mariners and will be a bench option that manager Scott Servais can rely on when Gamel returns from injury.

Ichiro has achieved a ton over his illustrious career in both the PBL and MLB. The most impressive feat that he has achieved is that he has the most hits ever in professional baseball with 4,358 and counting. He has stated that he wants to play professional baseball until "I'm at least 50." If he does get the chance to play professional baseball, whether it's in the MLB, PBL, or somewhere else, he will have plenty of time to increase his career hit total, as he is currently only 44 years old.