An international baseball legend is calling it a career ... maybe.

After 27 seasons as a professional baseball player -- the last 18 in Major League Baseball -- Ichiro Suzuki is taking a front-office position with the Seattle Mariners. The 44-year-old had played in 15 games this season -- collecting nine hits -- in a return to the team he began his MLB career with back in 2001. Before that he was a star in Japan with the Orix Blue Wave for nine seasons beginning as an 18-year-old in 1992.

"With Ichiro's track record of success, his personality, his unique perspective and his work ethic, he is singularly positioned to impact both our younger players and the veterans in the clubhouse," Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto told ESPN. "We really don't want him to change anything that he's doing right now, with the exception that he will not be playing in games."

Meanwhile, Suzuki's agent says he's not retiring.

“He doesn’t plan on retiring,’’ John Boggs, his agent, told USA TODAY Sports. “He’s morphing into the role. He’ll still be traveling with the team, work out with the team every day, but he just isn’t going to be allowed to play.

“He in no way has decided to retire.’’

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The newest Mr. 3,000 already has the cardboard to prove it.

Ichiro Suzuki's triple off the wall in the seventh inning Sunday at Coors Field in Colorado made him just the 30th player in MLB history to join the 3,000 Hit Club and today he's the first to have the feat nearly instantly commemorated on cardboard with a Topps Now card.

There is one standard card and five game-used base Relics -- a standard card limited to 99 and then four parallels made to as rare as a single copy for $999. (Update: Each of the base Relics was sold out within 30 minutes, with the print run generating $46,318.16 in sales based on the posted prices. Update 2: A record 11,550 copies of the standard card were sold.)

Topps Now, of course, is Topps' real-time cardboard platform where notable moments are only available for 24 hours via Topps.com and are made to order. After that window closes, the cards will no longer be made and can only be found on the secondary market.

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He's been a legendary hitter in MLB since arriving in a Seattle Mariners uniform back in 2001, and he's now 42 years old and on a tear with 10 hits in his last three games for the Miami Marlins.

He's Ichiro Suzuki and he's just 40 hits away from the 3,000 Hit Club as a major-leaguer. (Throw on 1,434 hits in Japan and, well, that's a career mark even Pete Rose should appreciate.)

Even if you're a deep-pocketed collector, chasing Ichiro cardboard isn't easy. He's been in high demand since his legendary Rookie of the Year/MVP season and there's plenty of cardboard from that year alone. There's also been plenty since. And there are also plenty of collectors from around the world who are watching his cardboard just as intently as they are watching the box scores right now.

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Ichiro Suzuki will be marching toward 3,000 career hits this season, but that doesn't mean there won't be time for a private signing.

In fact, it's coming up later this month via Mill Creek Sports.

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