Ichiro Suzuki – transcendent, universal, singular – is now a member of the Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday, the Japanese outfielder was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote, joining CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner in the class of 2025. Suzuki, who spent 14 of his 19 MLB seasons with the Seattle Mariners, is the first member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Japan.
He is undeniably a deserving character.
Few players in baseball history have commanded such respect, garnered such attention, enjoyed such adoration and inspired such endless wonder. Suzuki, at its best, was an experience like no other. Playing in an era dominated by muscular brutes aiming for the fences, Ichiro defiantly drove against the tide.
“Girls who dig homers aren’t the ones I’m attracted to,” he told the New York Times in 2009. “I think there’s a sexy side to home runs because they require technique. I prefer to impress girls with my technique rather than with my raw strength.
“And then, every once in a while, just to show that I can do it too, I might flirt a little by hitting one.”
With a bat in his hand, Ichiro was a craftsman, an artist, a surgeon, a throwback. Singles, not tours, paid his bills, filled his soul and made a name for himself. To him, the game seemed to be happening in slow motion. Able to manipulate his cannon into any corner of the strike zone and well beyond, he was a confusing and infuriating opponent. His approach to striking – controlled, thoughtful, graceful – was unprecedented in his time. Additionally, Ichiro had style, panache and an inimitable composure to his flow that made him an icon to millions of ball fans beyond the Pacific Northwest.
Suzuki’s statistical accomplishments are also astounding. Although he made his MLB debut at the relatively late age of 27, the spindly outfielder compiled 3,089 hits, stole 509 bases, scored 1,420 runs and retired with a .311 batting average in career. He retains the all-time record for hits in a single season – 262 in 2004 – a record unlikely to be broken. Since 1930, no other player has surpassed the 240 mark.
During his 19-year career, Suzuki had 10,200 hit seasons, tied with Pete Rose. Baseball’s current singles artist, Luis Arraez, only has two. And of course, Ichiro’s 4,367 combined hits between MLB and NPB exceed Rose’s stateside total of 4,256, making Ichiro, for some, the true hitting king.
Overall, Suzuki’s impact on the game has proven to be immense, immeasurable and lasting. His success blew the door open for many other Japanese players, fueling a talent pool. this shows no signs of slowing down.
Shohei Ohtani, the biggest star in football today, has always been, as one would expect, effusive towards his compatriot.
“He was always someone that my goal (to emulate)” Ohtani told MLB.com after Ichiro’s storybook retreat in Tokyo in 2019. “He’s someone that people of my generation look up to a lot.”
Before Ichiro arrived in MLB in 2001, the narrative was that even if Japanese pitchers had made the jump, Japanese position players would struggle to adapt to faster pitches. So even though Suzuki joined the Mariners as a superstar in his homeland, he arrived in the bigs with something to prove.
Before that, during a special offseason series between the MLB and NPB All-Star teams in Japan in November 1998, Ichiro generally wowed his American opponents, including Sammy Sosa, Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez and Jason Giambi . But longtime Cleveland skipper and MLB All-Star manager Mike Hargrove was decidedly less impressed.
“He’s above average as a runner, and he has an above average arm in right field,” Hargrove, who would eventually become Suzuki’s manager in Seattle, told the New York Times. “Still, I would see him as the fourth outfielder on a major league team.”
Hargrove, fortunately, was far from the mark.
Ichiro quickly proved to be much more than a fourth outfielder.
He remains, to this day, one of the most universally adored figures in MLB. And now, his enshrinement in the game’s most hallowed halls will serve as a wonderful and everlasting reminder of his remarkable and extraordinary life in baseball.