Ichiro Suzuki Elected to U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame; First Japanese So Honored, Winning 99.7％ of Votes

By Toshiaki Obitsu / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

16:21 JST, January 22, 2025

SEATTLE — Former Major League Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States on Tuesday.

With 394 ballots submitted for the election, Ichiro received 393 votes, just one vote shy of unanimity.

Only one player has been selected unanimously in the past. Still, Ichiro’s percentage of votes at 99.746% is the third highest.

Ichiro, 51, had played for the Seattle Mariners in MLB, and the team has announced that it plans to retire Ichiro’s No. 51.

Players who have played in the majors for at least 10 seasons and have been retired for five full seasons are eligible for induction. To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, a player must receive at least 75% of the votes in a poll of reporters who have been members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for at least 10 years.

Ichiro was also enshrined in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 16. He was elected in both Japan and the United States in his first year after becoming eligible.

Ichiro became the first player in MLB history to have 10 consecutive seasons of 200-plus hits, from 2001 to 2010. In 2004, he achieved a record 262 hits, breaking an MLB record that had stood for 84 years. Combined with his record in Nippon Professional Baseball, Ichiro has a total of 4,367 hits.

Impressed by both batting and fielding

Shigetoshi Hasegawa played with Ichiro for both the Orix BlueWave in Japan and the Mariners in the United States. Hasegawa recalled that Ichiro often said, “It’s disrespectful to the opposing team’s pitcher to hit a ball carelessly when you are losing badly.” Ichiro always went into the batter’s box with a high level of concentration, according to Hasegawa.

The cumulative total of his 10,734 plate appearances, in which he threw himself into every pitch, led to his 3,089 MLB hits. Hitting 3,000 is a feat that only 33 players in MLB history have achieved.

It wasn’t just Ichiro’s hitting that impressed the major league players. “His fielding and base running also took them by surprise,” Hasegawa said. “I felt that he had brought a different kind of baseball [which focused on speed rather than power] with him.” Ichiro swept away the skeptical view of Japanese position players that had existed when he went to the United States in 2001.

On his election to the Hall of Fame, Ichiro said that when he went to the United States, “I never imagined that I would be in a position to hear the announcement today.” He added, “I am very honored.” The nearly unanimous vote was proof that Ichiro’s playing style has not faded and is still vividly etched in the memories of the world of American baseball.