Junior brings out kid in Ichiro

Ichiro lost himself in the applause. His idol, Ken Griffey Jr., was being doused with affection, and all of a sudden, Ichiro was a giddy teenager again.

No more stoicism. No more calm. On the outside, Ichiro appeared the same. On the inside, however, he was dreaming the good dream.

"I felt he should come back," Ichiro said of his emotions while watching Junior's homecoming ceremony on Friday.

You, too?

Ichiro nodded. He has a business-class seat on the bring-back-Griffey bandwagon.

"If I heard that he'll come back to Seattle, I would gladly give up my position of center field to him," Ichiro said.

Funny, Ichiro is a longtime right fielder who has successfully transitioned to center. And Griffey, the best defensive center fielder of all time, now plays in right field.

Even still, Ichiro would defer to the master. From 8,000 miles away, Ichiro became a Griffey connoisseur. He offered another perspective on this enchanting weekend: You didn't have to live in Seattle during the 1990s to feel Griffey's impact.

Without question, this weekend is about the city and the most iconic player it ever had. It's a special connection, one that, as an outsider, I can't fully understand. But I can appreciate it and tell you that, as a child living in Kentucky, I came to know Seattle through Griffey.

In Japan, Ichiro watched Griffey on videos sent from the United States. Ichiro is four years younger than Junior. He was 15 when The Kid broke into the major leagues. He grew up on Griffey highlights.

"He was already a star when I was a student in Japan," Ichiro said. "Ever since then, he's always been my favorite player. To be able to play on the ballfield with that guy is something that makes me very happy. It's actually a dream come true for me. I don't think there's anybody else in Major League Baseball that plays with as much grace and beauty as he does."

Ichiro's game has similar elegance. He doesn't have the power, but in terms of defensive flair and making the game look easy, he's closer to Griffey than most.

The two met in 1995, which is interesting considering what that year means in Mariners history. That year, the Mariners' present and future shook hands, and few had a clue of the significance.

Griffey was 25; Ichiro was 21. Griffey was already a global icon; Ichiro was becoming one.

"So many players are good players, but not many players have that extra something that makes them graceful and kind of puts them in another echelon," Ichiro said of Griffey. "But he has that. So he was a player that had everything."

In 1999, a year before Junior left town, Ichiro visited the M's during spring training as part of an agreement between Seattle and Ichiro's former club, Orix BlueWave.

For two weeks, Ichiro roamed the same clubhouse as Griffey. He wound up getting dehydrated and could only start two of the four exhibition games he was scheduled to play, but he had fun. At that time, some members of the Japanese press dubbed it "Ichiro's Dream Experience."

That dream included praise from Junior. At the end of Ichiro's two weeks, Griffey said he had "no real weaknesses" and expected him to be a major-leaguer. Two years later, Ichiro was helping the Mariners win 116 games.

Of course, Ichiro's idol was in Cincinnati by then. Though he wants Griffey back in Seattle, Ichiro couches his comments by adding, "But I wonder what the fans in Cincinnati would think if they saw that."

Besides, Ichiro is a free agent after this season. He might depart, just as Junior did. That's sports today. The time frame to appreciate a star keeps getting shorter. You have to cherish stars with that in mind.

The good news is that, with some luck, the cycle of greatness will keep repeating itself. There's always a fresh star out there, somewhere.

Seattle is fortunate to have experienced the best of Griffey, and for a chaser, Ichiro has gone down quite smooth. You can't bring back the good ol' days, but you can be open to new memories. They're bound to happen.

In fact, somewhere, the next Mariners great is probably marveling at Ichiro this minute.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com. For more columns and the Extra Points blog, visit seattletimes.com/sports