Ichiro Suzuki had a goal in mind when he was readying for his transition from Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball in the winter of 2000.
"Sometimes I am nervous, sometimes anxious," Ichiro said then, according to Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated, "but I want to challenge a new world."
Looking back nearly 20 years later, he certainly did that. And as a result, the world he challenged was changed forever.
This is more or less what's being celebrated this week in Tokyo, where Ichiro and the Seattle Mariners will officially kick off the 2019 MLB season—his 28th in professional baseball—with a two-game set opposite the Oakland Athletics.