Ichiro, a baseball icon, was notably absent from the Hall of Fame speech scene this Sunday.
“Three thousand hits or 262 in a single season—those are the milestones that writers celebrate. Well, all but one of you,” Ichiro remarked to the audience in Cooperstown, adding a humorous note about a dinner invitation from a particular writer that had now lapsed.
Ichiro took part in the 2025 ceremony alongside other inductees like CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, while Dick Allen and Dave Parker were honored posthumously.
He made history, receiving an astonishing 99.7% of the vote, tallying 393 votes out of 394.
This achievement also makes him the first Hall of Famer from Asia. During an impressive 19-season career, Ichiro accumulated 3,089 hits, boasting a .311 batting average, stealing 509 bases, earning 10 Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards, and two batting titles.
His record of 262 hits in a single season, set in 2004, still stands today.
Looking back, Ichiro’s 242 hits as a rookie in 2001 ranks highly, placing second since 1930. That year, he won both the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in the American League.
Moreover, he made it to the All-Star Game 10 consecutive times to start his career—a remarkable feat.
During Ichiro’s speech, the identity of the writer who overlooked him in the voting remained a mystery, a detail that prevented him from being the second player ever to achieve a unanimous election. Mariano Rivera had previously received 425 out of 425 votes in his first Hall of Fame nomination in 2019.
Ichiro’s impressive 99.7% places him alongside Derek Jeter in the rankings.
