MLB reporter reacts to Ichiro Suzuki falling one vote short of unanimous HOF selection

Suzuki received 99.7 percent of the possible votes. Each voter can cast a vote for up to 10 players, and a player needs to receive a vote from at least 75 percent of the voters in order to make it in. The only player to be a unanimous selection is Mariano Rivera, who went 425/425.

Joining Suzuki in the 2025 Hall of Fame class are CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. Wagner made it with 82.5 percent of the vote in his 10th and final year on the ballot. Sabathia made it with 86.8 percent of the vote on his first ballot.

The case for Ichiro really should be open-and-shut. He came over to MLB in 2001 at the age of 27 and led the league in batting average (.350), hits (242) and stolen bases (56) that season, while winning both AL MVP and AL Rookie of the Year. He quickly proved what a wizard he is with the bat. He made 10 straight All-Star teams, won 10 straight Gold Glove awards, two batting titles, and he led the league in hits seven times. Ichiro had a lifetime .311 batting average and over 3,000 hits in MLB despite spending the first nine years of his career in Japan. If you don’t think Suzuki belongs in the Hall of Fame or on the first ballot, you have some problems.