Ichiro Suzuki 1 Vote Short of Unanimous Hall of Famer, Social Media Outcry: ‘Moronic’
That was anything but guaranteed Ichiro Suzuki would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. The only question was whether his choice would be unanimous.
A voice came shyly, got 99.7% of the votes after 394 baseball writers sent in ballots.
That’s the same total Derek Jeter received when he was one vote short of a unanimous election in 2020.
Mariano Rivera remains the only player in MLB history to be a unanimous choice, receiving 100% of the vote in 2019.
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The vote was always suspect, but the reactions were not pleasant.
“Please step forward, dumbass,” New York Post writer and Hall of Fame voter Jon Heyman wrote on X.
Added Sportswriter Chris Kirschner“Such a jerk.”
Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle Susan Slusser called the near miss “disturbing.”
Colleague Seattle Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. he got three fewer votes in 2016.
The good news for Ichiro is that he will be in Cooperstown forever this summer and is the first player born in Japan to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Ichiro joined the Majors in 2001 as a highly touted Japanese prospect, hitting .353 over nine seasons in his home country, where he won three MVPs and was a seven-time All-Star. Joining the Mariners at age 28, he immediately lived up to the hype, winning the AL MVP and helping the Mariners to a record 116 wins that year.
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From 2001 to 2010, Ichiro was named an All-Star player every season, and won the Golden Glove every year. In that span, he won three Silver Slugger Awards and two batting titles while posting a .331 average and .806 OPS. In 2004, he set the all-time hit single season record with 262 hits and is the only player in MLB history to record 10 consecutive seasons with more than 200 hits. He also stole over 500 bases and is one of only seven players to record 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.
After just his 11th MLB game, his career batting average never dipped below .300 again. He retired with a .311 average, 3,089 hits and 60.0 WAR. In the live ball era (since 1920), he is one of only 21 players to hit .300 in at least 10 seasons (among qualified hitters) and only one of seven to do so in 10 consecutive years. Ichiro spent most of his career with the Mariners, with stops with the Yankees and Marlins.
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Ichiro is joined in this year’s class by pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
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