Ichiro Suzuki becomes the first Asian player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

On By Littum

Ichiro Suzuki, the dominant shortstop whose 19 years in the big leagues, most of them with the Seattle Mariners, were filled with records and accolades, became the first Asian player elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

He received 99.7% of the vote, missing a unanimous selection by one vote. New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, inducted in 2019, remains the only member of the Hall of Fame to get 100%.

Ichiro joins starting pitcher CC Sabathia and relief pitcher Billy Wagner as part of the 2025 class heading to Cooperstown, New York.

Ichiro made his debut with the Mariners in 2001, becoming the first Japanese position player to join Major League Baseball. That season, he won both the American League MVP and Rookie of the Year awards.

He became a 10-time All Star and won 10 Gold Glove awards for exceptional defense as well as three Silver Slugger awards for his elite batting. Ichiro earned a reputation as an exceptional leadoff hitter (with a .311 career batting average) and as a formidable right fielder who, even at 5-foot-9, was known to scale outfield walls to steal home runs.

Ichiro had 3,089 hits in MLB after already playing nine years in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league. He had combined his hits from both leagues 4,367 hits across his professional career, the most of any player in baseball history.

Ichiro told NBC News in a 2022 interview that he endured his share of challenges after arriving in Seattle and that he was intensely aware of how American fans would perceive him. Although he said he didn’t set out to “perform for Asians”, he knew his performance would be scrutinized if he didn’t deliver.

“As a player from Japan, as a guy who had led the league in hitting all seven years and then came over as a first baseman, I knew I was going to be judged. And Japan baseball is going to be judged on how I did it ,” he said through a translator. “If I wasn’t able to produce, then they would judge Japan baseball as being at a lower level. And then that pressure was there, and that’s what I had to bear.”

Early on, fans would taunt him with taunts like, “Go back to Japan,” Ichiro recalled, describing the interactions as “the norm” for him at the time. But he quickly fired back at those who tried to doubt or dismiss him, hitting a home run in his first road game. In 2019, he retired with the Mariners and played his final game in the Tokyo Dome against the Oakland Athletics.

Ichiro was also voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame this month, receiving 323 of 349 votes in his first year of eligibility. In 2022, he was the first Asian player to be inducted into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame.