Ichiro Suzuki becomes first player from Japan to be inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame

Ichiro Suzuki has made even more history. 

The all-time great became the first player from Japan to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class.

The all-time great was just one vote away from becoming the second player to be unanimously selected for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, getting voted in as part of the 2025 class. Suzuki is the first player ever from Japan to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner will join Suzuki as part of the 2025 Hall of Fame class. Sabathia, who was in his first year on the ballot, received 86.8 of the vote. Wagner, who was in his 10th and final season on the ballot, received 82.5% of the vote.

Nominees needed to earn at least 75% of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America in order to be inducted. Dave Parker and Dick Allen will also be a part of the 2025 class, getting voted in last month by the classic era committee.

With Suzuki falling just short of the unanimous vote, Mariano Rivers remains the only player to be unanimously selected for induction in Cooperstown. He got 100% of the vote from the BBWAA in 2019, appearing on all 425 ballots. Derek Jeter was picked on 395 of 396 in 2020 and Ken Griffey Jr. on 437 of 440 in 2016.

Suzuki came to Major League Baseball from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001 and joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same season. He was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with the Seattle Mariners (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami Marlins (2015-17).

Suzuki's perhaps the best contact hitter in