Second baseman Dee Gordon wanted to express his appreciation for Ichiro Suzuki, who announced his retirement following the Seattle Mariners' two games in Japan. But Gordon wanted to do more than a social media post.

So he took out a full-page ad in The Seattle Times on Thursday, ahead of the Mariners' home opener against the Boston Red Sox.

"Honestly, I didn't think that writing up an Instagram post or something would be meaningful enough," Gordon said. "And he probably wouldn't be able to see it. I thought this was over the top, too."

In the ad, Gordon wrote, "Thank you for being a great friend to me and being my favorite player to this day."

Gordon and Suzuki were teammates in Miami and Seattle.