Ichiro and George Sisler

A few years ago, Ichiro broke the record for most hits in a season, a record previously held by George Sisler, who played for the old Saint Louis Browns. Sisler's daughter and other family members came to Seattle and treated Ichiro very graciously.

This year, with the All-Star Game in St Louis, Ichiro took the opportunity to visit Sisler's grave. He and his wife laid flowers there. He called Sisler "a grand upperclassman of the baseball world," which I think conveys a great deal of respect from the perspective of Japanese culture. A very kind tribute and reflecting the kind of class I've worried is nearly gone from our professional athletes.

Ichiro was also quite excited about meeting President Obama, but my favorite part of his reaction to that is this:

"But I realized after seeing him today that presidents wear jeans, too. So my hope is that our skipper, [Don] Wakamatsu, was watching that and we can wear jeans on our flights, as well."