Focus shifts to Ichiro’s chances of unanimous selection to Hall of Fame

MLB.com expects attention to be focused on whether Ichiro Suzuki will be the second unanimous inductee to the United States’ National Baseball Hall of Fame when the former Seattle Mariners outfielder is listed on the ballot in 2025.

“Ichiro will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2025, and the only question isn’t whether he’s a Hall of Famer,” the official website of Major League Baseball reported Wednesday. “It’s not even whether he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer… It’s whether he’ll be the next unanimous Hall of Famer.”

Former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, elected in 2019, is the only unanimous Hall of Famer.

“But if anyone has a chance to join him, it’s Ichiro,” MLB.com said. “The Mariners icon is one of the greatest pure hitters the game has ever seen — a 3,000-hit club member despite not arriving in MLB until he was 27 years old, a .311 lifetime hitter and MLB’s single-season hits record holder.”

The website also touched on Ichiro’s total of 4,367 hits in a career split between MLB and NPB, where he collected 1,278 hits before crossing the Pacific.

Adrian Beltre, Ichiro’s teammate in Seattle between 2005 and 2009, became one of the newest Hall of Fame members this week.

The third baseman from the Dominican Republic received 95.1% of the vote in his first year on the ballot.