Ichiro falls a vote short of being the second unanimous choice ever. CC makes it in his first year of eligibility, Wagner in his last. The recent ballot glut has cleared.

Seattle Mariners legend and Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki tries to hold back his tears after his team announced his jersey retirement.

Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, are accused of covering up the sexual abuse of a minor at their church and in their home in New York.

Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots and Wagner on 325, which was 29 more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.

Ichiro Suzuki was among the few Japanese players who transitioned well from Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball.

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.

Suzuki's close call means New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera remains the only unanimous electee. Rivera received all 425 votes in 2019. Another longtime Yankees icon, shortstop Derek Jeter, came within one vote of unanimous election in 2020. Suzuki, Rivera and Jeter were teammates with New York from 2012-13.

Suzuki came in first in terms of voting with 393, making history as the first Japanese-born player elected to the Hall of Fame. He was close to making history again as he was nearly unanimous– and he would have been in some pretty weighty company to share with Yankee legends Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.

While there was plenty to celebrate with Suzuki’s induction, there was one upsetting aspect: Ichiro failed to make it in unanimously by one vote. Suzuki was voted for on 393 out of 394 possible ballots, meaning one voter left the 10-time All-Star off their ballot.

Ichiro Suzuki has become the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, voted in along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Hank Aaron once told me his election into the Hall of Fame was the “greatest thrill I had in baseball” and the “greatest thing that ever happened to me as an individual.” Not once did he mention that nine voters left him off the ballot.