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Ichiro Suzuki takes shot at voter who cost him unanimous selection to Hall of Fame

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater07/27/25samdg_33
Ichiro Suzuki
Gregory Fisher | Imagn Images

Ichiro Suzuki was part of a five-honoree class whose names entered the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. However, after falling a single vote shy of being the just the second-ever unanimous selection into Cooperstown, Suzuki would go on to mention that ballot during his speech this afternoon.

Suzuki noted the single voter, who has not been identified since this was all announced back in January, while behind the mic at his induction ceremony today. He referenced him and made his point about his name being left off of his specific ballot.

“3000 hits or 262 hits in one season are achievements recognized by the writers – well, all but one of you,” Suzuki said to laughs from the crowd. “And, by the way, the offer for that writer to have dinner at my home has now expired.”

Suzuki was referencing his invite back in January following the announcement for said writer to come to his home and “have a drink together and…have a good chat”. That chance, though, is off the table now for whoever it was.

Suzuki, the first-ever player of Japanese to decent to make it in, was honored as a First Ballot Hall of Famer this year following his retirement in 2019. He received the most votes of his class this year with 393 out of a total of 394, which was well over the threshold of 75% to get in on the ballot by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Even so, it was one shy of making him just the second player to ever make it unanimously into the Hall of Fame alongside Mariano Rivera, who was on 425 of 425 votes for the class in 2019. Instead, Suzuki will have to settle for a tie with Derek Jeter in 2020 for the second-highest voting percentage in the hall’s history at 99.7%.

Suzuki played for 19 seasons in the MLB with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, and Miami Marlins. He would, essentially all during his first stint with the Mariners from 2001 to 2012, finish his Hall of Fame career with honors such as MVP and Rookie of the Year, winning them in the same season in ’01, while being a 10-time selection as an All-Star and Gold Glove while being a three-time selection as a Silver Slugger. That’s with 3,089 hits, which is 25th all-time, with percentages of .311 BA/.355 OBP/.402 SLG, with him leading the league in several of those over his time in Seattle. That’s not to mention the nine-year career he had playing back in Japan.

Suzuki was obviously going to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, whether it was unanimous or not, as he got in on his first time on the ballot. Regardless, considering it was a single vote that cost him the all-time recognition, you could see why he’d joke at that writer’s expense while receiving this career achievement today.