The longtime Seattle Mariners ace is set to be at the forefront of the argument for a new generation of pitchers.
King Félix will have to wait for his potential crowning ceremony, but Tuesday night’s announcement was a solid debut for the former Mariners ace’s chances for enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Tuesday is one of the holy days on the baseball calendar, the announcement of players voted into the Hall of Fame. The honor is extreme and well-earned, with just over 1% of all big leaguers making it to Cooperstown for what they did as players: 275 out of 23,370.
Ichiro Suzuki missed unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote Tuesday night when he headlined a three-player class selected by the 394 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Other bits of intrigue ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. announcement: Will CC Sabathia be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is this the year Billy Wagner gets in?
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.
It started in 1992. That’s when Ichiro made his debut in professional baseball. In 1992, Ichiro made his debut for the Orix Blue Wave at the age of 18.
Used to leading off, Ichiro Suzuki got antsy when he had to wait. Considered a no-doubt pick for baseball's Hall of Fame and possibly the second unanimous selection, he waited by the phone for the expected call Tuesday.
Seattle Mariners star Felix Hernandez didn't make the Baseball Hall of Fame this week, but he did enough to stay on the ballot for another year.
Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to pick his name on the Hall of Fame ballot, leaving him short of being unanimous.
The Cooperstown candidacies of Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones might benefit by the lack of slam-dunk newcomers to the 2026 Hall of Fame ballot.