Ichiro debuted in Major League Baseball in 2001 with the Seattle Mariners, the first Japanese position player to span the Pacific and an instant star. Left-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo preceded him, and Hideki Matsui came just after, both boosting the country’s confidence in a period of national malaise.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he’s much more than that in Japan. Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan’s economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to check off his name on the Hall of Fame ballot

Among baseball's newest Hall of Famers, Ichiro Suzuki came one vote shy of a unanimous election – something that has only happened once in history. At a media conference in Cooperstown on Thursday, the first-ever Japanese Hall of Famer joked about the lone member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who did not include him on their 2025 ballot.

After having oh-so-narrowly missed a unanimous Baseball Hall of Fame selection, legendary outfielder Ichiro Suzuki had a message for the sole journalist who didn’t vote for him.

Ichiro Suzuki said he wants to meet with the one person who voted against his induction into the Hall of Fame after he fell one vote shy of being unanimous.

At a Hall of Fame news conference, Ichiro joined the ranks of many people around the globe in wondering why he didn’t get that one vote.