Last July, Ichiro was traded to the New York Yankees. An era had ended in Seattle as had Franz’s need to tote the sign to her seats in right field. The Yankees were in Seattle when the swap went down so Ichiro came over in his New York uniform to thank Franz for her support through the years and to autograph the Ichimeter. It was the final chapter in the Ichimeter story.

Only, it turns out that it wasn’t. Franz received a special package on Tuesday afternoon and tweeted that she almost “passed ...