BALTIMORE — At the far end of the Camden Yards press box is a single television, and on that set Sunday, about four hours before the scheduled first pitch of Game 1 of the ALDS was a Yankees lineup that had Brett Gardner in left field hitting ninth against Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel and no Ichiro Suzuki.
At that moment, my colleague, George A. King III, and I began to contact Yankees officials to see if what was on this internal feed was a mistake. But a few folks from other news outlets just put out the information on Twitter.
And so what can follow is my diatribe about how the immediacy of Twitter — and the desire to get “information” out first — has done more to undermine journalism during my career than any other 10 factors combined. Go ask Robinson Cano, for example, what it felt like to have someone employed as a “reporter” post in late September on Twitter that MLB was about to announce the Yankees second baseman had tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance based on no sources.
Twitter has created such a frenzy to be first and get attention that we have too often responded by flushing some basic journalism tenets like, you know, verifying the information.
But you did not come to this space, I assume, for my views on the perils of my business.
And that is why I want to talk about the reaction on Twitter when the belief was Gardner was starting and, more important, Ichiro was not. The portion of Tweet World occupied by Yankees fans went cyber-bananas. Aside from Derek Jeter or Cano, I do not think another believed Yankees absence would have caused the furor and uneasiness that the ultimately incorrect information about Ichiro did among true believers with Internet access.
It substantiated my suspicion that in just 67 games Ichiro, who went 2-for-5 with two RBIs in the Yankees’ 7-2 victory Sunday night, has become a folk hero in pinstripes. Former Mariner Alex Rodriguez has not done in eight years what former Mariner Ichiro has in roughly 11 weeks — become beloved in The Bronx. By the reactions on Twitter, manager Joe Girardi was about to face a bunch of angry Yankees fans swarming Camden Yards with torches and pitchforks if he did not have a good explanation for Ichiro’s lineup absence.
Once I got confirmation Ichiro was indeed hitting second and playing left, I believe I was the first to post that on Twitter. The responses were as if I had just reported an asteroid was not going to hit Earth, such was the overpowering expressions of relief. It appears Ichiro has a mystique to match the Yankees’ aura.
This has turned into an ideal marriage: a player who needed change of scenery from a last-place team to get revitalized and a first-place team that has benefitted from a revitalized Ichiro. The Yankees are overjoyed about their July 23 acquisition, and Ichiro is playing young, exuberant and well.
“I’ve never seen him so happy,” said Allen Turner, Ichiro’s translator in Seattle for his first five seasons and now again with the Yankees.
The Yankees had hoped this was in Ichiro. Yankees pro personnel head Billy Eppler said when the team scouted Ichiro it did not see the .261 hitter he was this year as a Mariner, but rather a player still with a unique combination of elite bat speed, foot speed and arm strength. The hope was, unshackled from a losing environment, his skill set would flourish to produce results closer to his prime years.
Still, general manager Brian Cashman had a one-hour conversation with Ichiro before finalizing the trade to say if the veteran came to New York he had to be prepared to play left field (not his traditional right), hit toward the bottom of the lineup and not play against some lefties. Ichiro saw this as a get-out-of-jail card, so he embraced the new opportunity with the stipulations.
And then Ichiro played so well he earned his way into the lineup against all types of pitchers, moved to second in the order and ended up playing all three outfield positions with skill and without complaint.
“You don’t want to say the words ‘reclamation project,’ ” Eppler said. “But when you are looking for guys, you are looking for a level of ability. In Ichiro’s case, there was a lot to reclaim.”
Ichiro hit .322 as a Yankee, despite limited playing time led the team in steals with 14 and performed in such a way to become indispensable to the team and indelible to the fan base.
It got to this point: The false rumor he was not starting Sunday nearly caused an online revolt.
joel.sherman@nypost.com