Today marks the end of an unfathomable era for Maui baseball.

Kurt Suzuki, a 2001 Baldwin High School graduate, will finish his unbelievable 16-year Major League Baseball career as one of the best catchers in history when the Los Angeles Angels play their season-ender at Oakland.

And, yes, I will say it: THE best Hawaii-born baseball player, ever, is done on the playing field after one last game.

The numbers back me up on both counts. Suzuki will leave MLB 32nd all-time in games caught and 25th all-time in innings caught.

Think about that for a second — Major League Baseball has documentation of records dating back to the 1870s.

And a smiley, inquisitive kid who grew up in Wailuku will leave the sport — at the hardest position to physically play — as one of the all-time greats, at least based on the time he spent playing the game at the highest level.

His 12,968 2/3 innings caught places Suzuki one spot in front of Jorge Posada, eight spots in front of Rick Dempsey, and 10 in front of Jason Varitek. Only one active player has caught more games and innings than Suzuki, the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina.

And there are other facts to back me up, too.

Suzuki was an American League All-Star in 2014 with the Minnesota Twins — sharing the field with Derek Jeter in his final All-Star appearance — and Suzuki was a starter for the 2019 World Series-champion Washington Nationals.

His numbers among Hawaii-born major leaguers rise far above the rest of the field — first in games, plate appearances, at-bats, hits, doubles, homers and RBIs.

It is perhaps RBIs that best illustrates the distance that Suzuki has put between himself and all other Hawaii major leaguers — his 730 runs batted in are 241 more than Shane Victorino, who has the second most among Hawaii players and also grew up in Wailuku.

Now, please don’t get me wrong, I had the distinct pleasure to cover Victorino through his 12-year MLB career as well, and there are numbers that support his candidacy for best Hawaii player ever — two All-Star Games, two World Series titles, four Gold Gloves.

I will not argue with anyone who tells me Victorino is the best Hawaii-born player ever.

But for me, it is Suzuki’s humility where he is unmatched.

He gave me 25 minutes on the phone from Minnesota on a recent Saturday morning — enough time to give me material for five columns of this size — and he couldn’t have been more thankful for the coverage that we at The Maui News have been able to provide over the years, but he deflects when asked if he might be the best ever from the 50th state.

“It’s kind of crazy, I really appreciate those kind words, Rob,” he said. “You know, from someone like you who covered my whole career from when I was in high school or maybe even a little bit pre-high school. To hear something like that from you, I mean that’s very humbling and I really appreciate your support.

“You’ve been tremendous throughout my whole career with the support, with the great articles. You know, some guys don’t write nice articles about you, but you’ve always been so supportive and I really appreciate that, a lot.”

In the next sentence, Suzuki spreads the credit around to all who came before and played with him.

“It’s very humbling, I don’t really see myself that way — I see myself as a part of a Hawaiian group,” he said. “I feel like being a Hawaiian-born player, and how close-knit our communities are throughout Hawaii, I don’t feel like it’s one guy here, one guy there. We’re all in it together to represent Hawaii in the right light.

“And I think what Shane has done, what Kolten (Wong) has done, you know, what Isiah Kiner-Falefa is doing right now. Brandon League, I mean the list goes on with these guys and to be a part of that group of Hawaiian-born players, and representing our 808 state the way we’ve been doing, it’s definitely an honor.”

Suzuki never takes all the credit he is clearly due, but he watches closely the explosion of success in youth baseball here — in Maui County and across the 50th state — again spreading the credit among other Hawaii big leaguers.

“I really, truly believe that in this together, we’ve kind of created this — I don’t want to say baseball culture — but baseball is starting to (make progress) where everybody talks about football,” Suzuki said. “I feel like baseball, you watch the Little League World Series that these Hawaii teams, the Hawaii team that just won it this year I think they mercy-ruled everybody.

“And they’ve got these players that are just unbelievable. I feel like now, from what the group of us have done throughout our careers, I think, is really catapulting these kids to believing in themselves that they can compete at the highest level. And, you know, it’s a very humbling thing.”

Suzuki’s career ends in the place it began — Oakland drafted him in the second round in 2004 — with a group of those closest to him in attendance. Former Baldwin coaches Kahai Shishido and Jon Viela and lifelong friend Kimo Higa are there.

Shishido’s wife and Viela’s wife — “Auntie Wendy and auntie Maile” to Suzuki — are there, too.

“I take a lot of pride in that,” Suzuki said of inspiring young players here. “Growing up and first coming to the big leagues, I always said if I can inspire one kid, whether it’s from California, Hawaii, wherever throughout the whole country, but especially in Hawaii, if I could inspire one kid to chase their dreams and to hopefully accomplish their dreams, I feel like that would be a success.

“And to see what these kids are doing now — I’m not saying I’m the reason why these kids are playing baseball, by no means am I saying that — but what I’m saying is that if these kids can see us group of Hawaiians playing in the big leagues and say, ‘You know what, that’s a great dream to have and I want to pursue it, I want to give my 100 percent effort in it, I’m going to do everything I can to get to the big leagues,’ I feel like that’s awesome. It’s very humbling.”

Tuesday was Suzuki’s 39th birthday, and one he will certainly never forget. Making his final start, Suzuki caught a strike on Michael Lorenzen’s first pitch in the bottom of the first inning. And then, a truly emotional scene unfolded as manager Phil Nevin came onto the field to take him out of the game, starting a much-deserved salute and farewell for the player known in his youth days as “Pup.”

Angels players descended onto the mound — Mike Trout among those trotting in from the outfield– to embrace Suzuki as the dugouts and crowd at the Coliseum gave him a standing ovation.

Suzuki recently reflected upon his upcoming birthday.

“It means I’m getting old when these high school kids say, ‘Yeah, I look up to you’ and stuff, it makes me feel older, but at the same time, it’s a really cool thing and like I said, I would do anything for kids from Hawaii, whatever help they need and things like that,” Suzuki said. “It’s so great to see these Hawaiians come up and go to these D-I colleges and get drafted and get the opportunity to chase their dreams, it’s awesome.”

Shane Dudoit, a Texas Rangers scout who was recently named the head baseball coach at Kamehameha Maui, gives Suzuki credit for helping sons Haloa and Haku Dudoit into college baseball.

Suzuki was a driving force in getting the baseball facility built on the Baldwin campus.

“Gee, I cannot even start to explain how much of a part that he played, I mean, to getting the batting facility up at Baldwin started was through him and his wife, they made a considerable donation to get things moving,” Dudoit said.

Future first-ballot Hall of Famer Albert Pujols showed up for Suzuki’s annual youth clinic at Maehara Stadium in 2019 — the two are very close friends.

“He’d come home, he’d work with our kids, he brought Pujols up to the cage on multiple occasions to work with our kids, to get our kids to see things from a different point of view,” said Dudoit, who was a longtime assistant for Baldwin before becoming the head coach and guiding the Bears to the 2018 state title — Suzuki still follows his alma mater very closely. “He’s always done his camps here every January for free. Then he’d do his gala to raise money for the (Baldwin) foundation. I’m thankful that he’s got the greatest parents in the world.

“It shows what kind of upbringing Kurt has had — he still treasures the friendships made a long time ago, even with his former coaches, Kahai and Jon and his friends, the Higas. He’s definitely a class act and I’m very glad to call him a friend. … I appreciate and have a lot of respect and love for that guy.”

Indeed, Suzuki has been directly involved in so much here that matters deeply and it starts with the upbringing he got from parents Warren and Kathleen Suzuki. Both parents are doing well, according to Kurt, after being hit by a car in Wailuku while on a walk in early September.

“Kurt always knew his roots and I’ve got to say that it’s his upbringing, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki are just amazing parents to Kurt — and just seeing how they raised their children — that doesn’t surprise me that Kurt is the way he is,” Viela said.

Suzuki is quick to credit his parents for cementing his values, and that is a theme echoed by those who know him best.

Viela also pointed to Suzuki’s home life with wife Renee and their three children as a prime reason why the decision to retire has arrived.

“You can just see how such a great family institution that they have, all of them,” Viela said. “So, I always go back to this word, it’s amazing for us to be part of his life. It was such a thrill to be his coach along with coach Kahai, we had a lot of great times coaching him as well as watching him play.”

One prime example of what Suzuki is all about was when he championed the life of Trucker Dukes, a 3-year-old Maui boy who died after a battle with cancer in 2017 — and several major leaguers followed.

Shishido, who like Viela is a Baldwin alum and former standout baseball player at the University of Hawaii, is a man of few words.

Until, that is, he is asked about the greatest Bear of all time.

“He’s the most humble person that I know,” Shishido said of Suzuki. “He’s as gracious and compassionate toward his friends and family and, yeah, he’s definitely hasn’t forgotten where he’s from and he’s so grounded. It’s just amazing to see someone like that — it’s great to see a professional athlete with his success and status be the great person that he is.”

Prior to leaving for Oakland, Shishido admitted he would be emotional when watching Suzuki on the field one last time.

“We’re so proud of him and what he’s accomplished and the type of person that he is,” Shishido said. “It’s going to be sad that it’s coming to an end, but it’s also kind of exciting because I think he’s ready for the next chapter.”

Suzuki said his next chapter will include baseball, but the rest of his life will also include Maui in a large way. He noted that as he has made his way through the MLB circuit this season, he has enjoyed saying mahalo and goodbye to clubhouse managers and batboys in cities he has known throughout his career — in Texas and Minnesota particularly — but Maui is and always will be home.

“Really, it came from my parents,” he said of never forgetting where he came from. “It’s always tough to leave, especially when you’re leaving Hawaii and moving to California. It’s tough because my best friends are there, my aunts, my uncles, all the aunties and uncles, so-called, that you have. Not being able to see them, it’s tough.

“We’re such a close-knit community, everybody knows everybody, but I think that being such a close-knit community everybody that I’ve known throughout my life played a big part in where I am, who I am today and that part, I never forget that.”

* Robert Collias is a rcollias@mauinews.com.