Mariano Rivera may soon have some company.
As of Monday, Ichiro Suzuki had received all the ballots released by poll tracker Ryan Thibodeau (Bluesky's @NotMrTibbs).
If things go as planned when the Baseball Writers Association of America releases final results on Tuesday, Ichiro will become the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and the second player ever to be unanimously selected by Cooperstown.
He will join Rivera, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot in 2019. Rivera was named on all 425 votes a year ago, when Derek Jeter was one vote short of 100 percent.
Ken Griffey Jr. had the third-highest percentage in 2016 at 99.3%.
This will be the latest honor for Ichiro, as the outfielder was elected to the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame last week in his first year of eligibility.
However, Ichiro was not a unanimous selection as his name appeared on 92.6% of the votes, likely because he played only nine seasons in Japan before moving to MLB before the 2001 season. Probably.
Ichiro had 3,089 hits in 19 MLB seasons. Combined with the 1,278 hits he had while playing for the Orix of Japan's Pacific League, Ichiro's 4,367 hits are the most in professional baseball history.
And he is one of only seven players in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. The remaining six, Lou Brock, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor and Honus Wagner, are all in Cooperstown.
Ichiro led the majors in hits seven times.
Of the players participating in this year's voting for the first time, only Ichiro and former Yankees teammate CC Sabathia have a chance of winning.
Another former Ichiro teammate, right-hander Felix Hernandez, was at 26.1 percent as of Monday afternoon, and former Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia was at 15.4 percent.
Seventy-five percent of the vote is required to qualify and five percent to remain on the ballot.
Former Yankees catchers Russell Martin and Brian McCann and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki are all at risk of not being eligible.
