"The workout ended just before noon, and Ichiro Suzuki didn't address the media for another 21/2 hours - but Jack Cust waited.

In a Seattle Mariners clubhouse that slowly emptied, Ichiro did his post-workout routine, keeping that 5-foot-11, 172-pound body limber and strong.

Cust, all 6-foot-1, 250 pounds of him, waited.

When Ichiro had dressed and called in the media, he was wearing tight jeans, rolled to mid-calf, a red belt that matched his baseball cap and high-top tennis shoes. With the interview in progress, Cust appeared.

Dressed in baggy jeans - rolled to mid-shin - and ugly high-tops, he sat across from Ichiro and waited. A moment later, the perennial All-Star outfielder began laughing.

No two men on the team look less alike, and Ichiro was asked what he thought of Cust's look.

"I'm the good sample, he's the bad sample," Ichiro said. "It's like in those magazines that have good and bad fashion. I'd be on the good side."

It was the first full-squad workout of the spring for Seattle, Ichiro's first full day in camp, and a blustery, rainy, cool workout at that.

Ichiro said every "first day" brings hope for teams, even those that lost 101 games the season before. He talked about the new faces in camp, the old teammates he hadn't seen since October.

And then Cust made him laugh.

Opening his 11th big-league season next month, Ichiro said his offseason preparation has changed each year, that his body tells him what he must do to be ready, to stay at the level he wants.

Asked if he might be feeling his age at 37, Ichiro stared through dark glasses at a group of reporters surrounding him."