Undersized and with a weird swing, Ichiro Suzuki stood out because of two Hall of Fame careers across 28 years in pro baseball.

“Lou Piniella was very skeptical,” said Larry Stone, a Seattle Times baseball writer who has covered Ichiro’s career extensively. “That spring training, Ichiro started off not pulling the ball, not driving the ball. And Lou was like, ‘Who is this guy? When is he going to show me something?’”