Ichiro Suzuki's long baseball career is almost unanimously worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame.
The Japanese superstar was voted into Cooperstown on Tuesday, falling one vote short of the second player, who received 100 percent of the vote.
Suzuki received 393 out of 394 votes, a vote percentage of 99.7%, which tied him with former Yankees legend Derek Jeter for second place in history.
Former Yankees teammate and relief pitcher Mariano Rivera is the only player to accomplish this feat, but Ichiro now holds the distinction of being the first Japanese-born MLB player to be honored.
Ichiro began his MLB journey with the Mariners in 2001, and at the age of 27 was already a seasoned professional player, quickly becoming one of the Mariners' biggest stars.
In his first season in the United States, he won American League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, as well as Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, and made his first appearance in the All-Star Game for the 10th consecutive year.
According to Baseball Reference, he has a lifetime WAR of 60 in 19 MLB seasons, 14 of which were with the Mariners, and 3,089 hits with three each with the Yankees and Marlins.
He led the majors in hits seven times and batting average twice.
In 2004, Ichiro had a career-high WAR of 9.2, knocking 262 bases and breaking George Sisler's single-season hitting record.
Despite his long history, several prominent baseball officials wondered which of their fellow sportswriters had removed him from the ballot.
“Ichiro missed the unanimous vote by one vote,” the newspaper's Jon Heyman wrote in a post on X. “Step forward, you insensitive skull.”
“It will be interesting to see if those who didn't vote for Ichiro clearly understand the reasoning behind their decision,” ESPN's Buster Olney wonders about the X.
Before coming to the United States, Ichiro played nine seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball's Orix Blue Wave, recording 1,278 hits, 118 home runs, and a batting average of .353.
