Expected to be the first Japanese player elected to the Cooperstown on Tuesday, Ichiro is a wellspring of national pride and his fame across the Pacific when he joined MLB was therapeutic for his

Ichiro is a wellspring of national pride — like Shohei Ohtani now — and his fame across the Pacific was therapeutic as Japan's economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades.

Pete Rose still holds the MLB record for career hits with 4,256, but Ichiro would be the hit king if you count the 1,278 hits he had in Japan. Ichiro reached 4,257 combined hits on June 15, 2016, with the Marlins, hitting a double off the San Diego Padres’ Fernando Rodney (remember him, Mariners fans?). Ichiro finished with 4,367 combined hits.

Tuesday is one of the holy days on the baseball calendar, the announcement of players voted into the Hall of Fame. The honor is extreme and well-earned, with just over 1% of all big leaguers making it to Cooperstown for what they did as players: 275 out of 23,370.

To this point, only famed Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has been elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously — not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, not Ken Griffey Jr. nor Derek Jeter, just Rivera. Could Suzuki be the second?

If Ichiro Suzuki misses unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it would be by a handful of votes at most. For Carlos Beltran, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner,

NEW YORK – There’s nothing new to my 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, except the pleasure of voting for first-time eligibles Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia. Of the 28 players appearing on this year’s ballot, I checked six boxes.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he is much more than that at home in Japan. Ichiro is a wellspring of national pride — like Shohei Ohtani now —

The results of voting for the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class will be revealed Tuesday evening. We already know that Dave Parker and Dick Allen were inducted via the Era Committee last month, so this reveal is the BBWAA portion.