Among baseball’s newest Hall of Famers, Ichiro Suzuki came one vote shy of a unanimous election – something that has only happened once in history.
At a media conference in Cooperstown on Thursday, the first-ever Japanese Hall of Famer joked about the lone member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America who did not include him on their 2025 ballot.
“I was able to receive many votes from the writers. I am grateful for them,” Suzuki said, via an interpreter. “There is one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from. I would like to invite him over to my house and we’ll have a drink together and we’ll have a good chat.”
Suzuki made his Major League Baseball debut in 2001, winning the American League MVP award and Rookie of the Year. In 19 seasons with the Mariners, Yankees and Marlins, Suzuki racked up 3,089 hits and won 10 Gold Glove awards.
‘I’ve been coming to the Hall of Fame as a player … and what an honor it is for me to be here as a Hall of Famer,’ Suzuki said Thursday in Cooperstown.
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The only unanimous Hall of Fame selection was Mariano Rivera in 2019, with Derek Jeter also coming up one vote shy in 2020.