During the gestation period for the place that would become baseball’s sacred shrine, Time Magazine, the New York Times and other periodicals referred to it as the “Baseball Hall of Fame.” Then, when the stately brick building housing the Hall officially opened in 1939,

When Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he became the 23rd player born outside the United States (including Puerto Rico, which, though it is a U.

New Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, now 51, still loves putting on the Seattle Mariners' uniform for pre-game workouts.

At a Hall of Fame news conference, Ichiro joined the ranks of many people around the globe in wondering why he didn’t get that one vote.

Players are elected to the Hall of Fame provided they are named on at least 75% of ballots cast by eligible voting members of the BBWAA. With 394 ballots submitted in the 2025 election, candidates needed to receive 296 votes to be elected.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Ichiro Suzuki has made even more history. The all-time great hitter is heading to Cooperstown, with C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner joining him.

BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O’Connell recalled Suzuki was at the Hall in 2001 when he called to inform the Seattle star he had been voted AL Rookie of the Year. Suzuki received 27 of 28 first-place votes, all but one from an Ohio writer who selected Sabathia.

"Ichiro's arrival in the United States, after nine seasons in Japan's major leagues, represented a significant moment in the globalization of baseball."

He was a phenomenon from the moment he arrived on the American stage, bringing extraordinary skill and unique style to the National Pastime. Now, Ichiro Suzuki’s impact on baseball and American cultur

No one has ever walked through these doors with the sport-changing, Hall-changing, planet-changing possibilities of Ichiro.