MLB weekend round-up: Ichiro notches 3,000 hits; A-Rod announces retirement

Ichiro Suzuki, with his signature sweeping swing of the bat, belted a triple off the wall in Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies to reach MLB hit No. 3000 in his historic career.

Ichiro, 42, became the 29th player in MLB history to reach the milestone, according to MLB.com. The 10-time All-Star has 4,278 hits in his professional career, which started in Japan.

MLB Network Radio’s Todd Hollandsworth was in awe when describing what Ichiro has been able to do in his long career, especially since he’s had the same stroke the entire time.

“In our sport you can eliminate power hitters, you can eliminate, most of the time, stolen base threats, on and on,” Hollandsworth said. “And when you think about Ichiro’s approach, he kind of stayed out in front of the game the whole time.

“That to me is absolutely amazing,” he added.

On the not-so-good-side of the news, Alex Rodriguez announced Sunday that he will play his last Major League game on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. In a teary-eyed press conference, A-Rod said he would stay with the Yankees as a special adviser through 2017.

Rodriguez’s role on the team had been murky at best before the announcement, with the 14-time All-Star hitting for a .209 BA and nine home runs this season.

Former teammate Johnny Damon joined Jim Bowden & Jeff Joyce on “The Front Office” to talk about A-Rod’s polarizing career.

“The game is going to miss him,” Damon said. “There were tons of stories about him through the years. Good, bad, indifferent, but A-Rod was exactly what baseball needed.”

For all the latest on a busy weekend of MLB news, listen to MLB Network Radio, Channel 209.