Ichiro Suzuki collected 3,089 hits in a major league uniform — this after he racked up 1,278 hits playing in his native Japan. He played 19 seasons in the majors and didn’t retire until age 45. He’s a 10-time All-Star with 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and the 24th-most hits in major-league history, according to MLB.com.
But for one of the 394 voters tasked with casting a vote for the National Baseball of Fame, it wasn’t enough.
Suzuki easily cleared the bar for first-ballot induction into Cooperstown. But like his former New York Yankees teammate Derek Jeter, he missed getting in unanimously by one vote. Another former Yankees teammate, Mariano Rivera, remains the only player enshrined to receive a vote on every ballot cast.
Voters are given the option to make their ballots public two weeks after the election, though many reveal their votes during the lead-up to the announcement. As of Tuesday night, no voter had stepped forward to explain their exclusion of Suzuki.
Suzuki, 51, won the American League MVP and the Rookie of the Year award in 2001, his first season with the Seattle Mariners. He’d later play for the Yankees and Miami Marlins. He became the first player to record 10 consecutive seasons with at least 200 hits. He stole 509 bases, including a majors-best 56 as a rookie.
(Photo: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
