One Vote Shy Of Unanimous, Ichiro Reaches Hall Of Fame

History repeated itself in this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Ichiro Suzuki, an outfielder who won two batting titles and 10 straight Gold Gloves in a career spent mostly with the Seattle Mariners, was named on all but ballot, joining Derek Jeter as electees who fell just one vote short of being unanimous choices.

Since former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera of the Class of 2019 stands alone as the only man named on every ballot, the Hall of Fame still lacks a position player named by every voter.

Writers Pick Three

After collecting 99.7 per cent of the vote, Ichiro will be joined during July 27 induction ceremonies by pitcher CC Sabathia, a first-timer on the ballot and former closer Billy Wagner, who won election in his 10th and last try.

Sabathia garnered 86.8 per cent, while Wagner got 82.5 per cent.

Former star center-fielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones polled closer to the required 75 per cent for enshrinement but will have to wait ‘til next year, as the old Brooklyn Dodgers often said.

They finished with 70.3 and 66.2 per cent, respectively.

Ichiro, who prefers to be known only by his first name, now becomes the first star from the Japan major leagues to make the U.S. Hall of Fame.

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When he broke in with the 2001 Seattle Marines, he was the first non-pitcher to jump from Japan to the U.S. He played so well that he joined Fred Lynn (1975) as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player trophies in the same season.

His 262-hit season in 2004 was a major-league record and a major reason he finished with 3,089 in a 19-year career divided among the Mariners, Marlins, and Yankees.

Ten years in a row, he had at least 200 hits.

Red-Hot Rookie

Ichiro gave hint of great things to come as a rookie, when he hit .350, collected 242 hits, and stole 56 bases. The 10-time All-Star was MVP of the 2007 game in San Francisco, when he hit the only inside-the-park home run in the history of the Midsummer Classic.

The two-time batting champ also led the American League in hits seven times and fielding percentage four times.

Counting his time with the Orix Blue Wave of Japan’s Pacific League, he had 4,367 hits in 28 seasons. No one has ever done better.

In fact, no one has had a better week; Ichiro was just elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame as well.

His father realized early on that Ichiro’s speed would benefit him best if he batted left-handed – a step closer to first base – and converted the child prodigy, a natural right-handed hitter.

Ichiro went on to collect more than 600 infield hits in the major leagues.

When he was literally running away with rookie honors in 2001, Sabathia was runner-up.

In a career mainly split between Cleveland and the Yankees, he won 251 games, posted a 3.74 earned run average, and fanned 3,093 hitters – a total topped third among lefties, trailing incumbent Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton.

Sabathia, who matched Ichiro by playing 19 seasons, won the American League’s Cy Young Award in 2007.

Big Lefty, Little Lefty

Two years later, the towering southpaw helped pitch the Yankees to a world championship. Only five previous pitchers have at least 250 wins, 3,000 strikeouts, and a .600 winning percentage.

Wagner, who just missed election last year with 73.8 per cent of the vote, had 242 saves and a 2.31 earned run average over 16 seasons divided among five different clubs. The diminutive but hard-throwing lefty also averaged a sensational 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

He saved more than 30 games in nine different seasons. The three writers’ electees swell to five the number of inductees for the Class of 2025, since former MVPs Dave Parker and Dick Allen were picked in December by the Classic Baseball Era Committee.

According to Baseball Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch, who announced the election results on MLB Network, the Class of 2025 represents half the 30 teams in the game. All five electees played for multiple clubs.

A record five players were chosen for the first Hall of Fame class, in 1936, with four players named by the voting writers in 1947, 1955, 2015, 2018, and 2019. Enshrined in that initial Class of 1936 were Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Ty Cobb.

Membership in the Hall of Fame currently stands at 351, including 251 former players, 39 executives and pioneers, 23 managers, and 10 umpires.

For the Class of 2025, writers considered a ballot of 28 names, half holdovers and half newcomers. Induction is set for the grounds outside Clark Sports Center, about a mile from the Baseball Hall of Fame in the cozy Central New York hamlet of Cooperstown.

With Ichiro at the top of the Induction Class ticket, hordes of rabid Japanese fans are expected, along with supporters of Sabathia and Wagner because of their New York ties.

If the Class of 2025 tops the attendance record from 2007, when an estimated 87,500 turned out for Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr., Ichiro will have another record to add to his glittering bilingual resume.

Because most voters do not complete all 10 spaces on their ballots, garnering 75 per cent of the vote is difficult. Such greats as Joe DiMaggio needed multiple tries.

Predicting the election results for the Hall of Fame is just as tough as predicting a presidential vote.

Nine different times when the writers could not agree on a single candidate, the Veterans Committee, as the Eras Committee was called then, saved Induction Weekend by choosing candidates of their own.

Once players become Hall of Famers, they realize a lifelong financial windfall. They receive more invitations to public appearances, including card shows and baseball theme cruises, and the value of their memorabilia – especially if signed – increases exponentially. Many end their signatures with three little letters: “HOF.”