Mariner Talk Chat Forum

Unanimous or no?

Last year there were 385 voters.

He should be really close to it. He was as good at 20 as he was at 27 and if he started his career in the US we're probably talking about 4,500 hits, 15 Gold Gloves and 100 WAR. It's not even a Jackie Robinson comparison, really, he was always that good.

DavidGee24 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2025 9:00 pm

He should be really close to it. He was as good at 20 as he was at 27 and if he started his career in the US we're probably talking about 4,500 hits, 15 Gold Gloves and 100 WAR. It's not even a Jackie Robinson comparison, really, he was always that good.

True

I don't want to even begin to compare him to Jackie Robinson but there is an aspect of being a ground breaker. Ichiro wasn't up against the hostility but he was there to show disbelievers a Japanese player could play MLB like Jackie was there to show blacks could. And did he ever do it. That's really the remarkable aspect, both Ichiro and Jackie were the right guy at the right time. You can debate ichiros performance but that phenomenal aspect to him stayed with him his entire career through the force of his personality. I think going in unanimously is perfectly reasonable

I remember that first spring training, a video of mark McGwire behind ichiro with his arms around him playfully, both grinning into the camera, ichiro looks like a child. Mark saying, you just have to look at it this guy to tell he's a ML ballplayer, it seemed silly but was he ever right. Remember that this was at the height of the peds era. Ichiro coming and dominating baseball at that time was totally remarkable, why he was embraced

Columnist Jayson Stark recently broke down his HOF ballot selections. #1? Ichiro.

He writes:

Stay tuned — because first, I think we have to talk about the one true legend on this ballot …
Ichiro (first year on ballot)

I asked this question in a column in November. I’ll ask it again. What reason could any voter possibly have to not vote for a guy who rattled off a ridiculous 4,367 hits on two continents — with 3,089 of them coming on this side of the Pacific (even though he didn’t get here until age 27)?
Seriously, are we really going to do this again? Are we really going to find some excuse not to make this man the first unanimous position player in the history of Hall of Fame voting?

Yikes. It’s embarrassing. Who cares if Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. weren’t unanimous. Let’s move on. Let’s do better. Let’s think about who we’re talking about here, when we mull the candidacy of the great Ichiro Suzuki …

4,367 hits? That’s more than Joe DiMaggio (2,214) and Yogi Berra (2,150) combined! I know the 1,278 hits in Japan don’t “count.” But it’s not like Ichiro got them in Williamsport, right? They happened!

10 seasons in a row with 200 hits and a Gold Glove Award? You know how many players in history have ever done that? Only one player in history has ever done that. Guess who! For what it’s worth, nobody else even had five seasons in a row like that.

2,244 hits in his first 10 seasons in the big leagues? Does that seem like a lot? You should answer yes to that! Maybe because those 2,244 hits by Ichiro in that decade are the most anyone has ever gotten in his first 10 big-league seasons. Here’s the tiny group that’s even within 300 hits of him:

Paul Waner* — 2,036
Kirby Puckett* — 1,996
Al Simmons* — 1,996
Wade Boggs* — 1,965
(*Hall of Famer)
(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

But of course, Ichiro kept going … for another nine years. So …

3,089 hits, 509 steals and 1,420 runs scored? That’s a staggering trifecta. The only other members of the 500-Steal, 1400-Run Club with more hits than Ichiro won’t take long to rattle off: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Paul Molitor and Eddie Collins. That’s another distinguished list of all Cooperstonians.

And just for fun, what if we counted Ichiro’s steals and runs scored from Japan? Then he’d have over 700 stolen bases and 2,000 runs. And, well, OMG! The only two men who ever stole and scored that many in American League/National League history? That would be Cobb … and Rickey Henderson … and that’s it. Or how about this …

84 Batting Runs above average, 121 Fielding Runs above average and 62 Baserunning Runs above average? According to Baseball Reference, that’s where Ichiro finished his career in MLB. And I know that sounds like analytics gobbledygook, but let me translate.

Only two outfielders in history had a career remotely like that — with at least 80 Batting Runs, 110 Fielding Runs and 50 Baserunning Runs. One was Ichiro. The other? Willie Mays.

So let me repeat what I asked in November: How is any voter going to explain why they didn’t vote for that guy — a global baseball icon, one of two men in AL/NL history to win an MVP and a Rookie of the Year award in the same season (the other: Fred Lynn) and … sorry, I can’t ignore this … the man who got more hits than anyone who ever played baseball in the two greatest leagues on Earth?

Ichiro Suzuki was the easiest Hall of Fame case on this ballot.

I think he will be the first unanimous position player. Deservedly so.

https://archive.ph/vthEf

Big_Maple wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 16, 2025 1:29 pm

Columnist Jayson Stark recently broke down his HOF ballot selections. #1? Ichiro.

He writes:

Stay tuned — because first, I think we have to talk about the one true legend on this ballot …
Ichiro (first year on ballot)

I asked this question in a column in November. I’ll ask it again. What reason could any voter possibly have to not vote for a guy who rattled off a ridiculous 4,367 hits on two continents — with 3,089 of them coming on this side of the Pacific (even though he didn’t get here until age 27)?
Seriously, are we really going to do this again? Are we really going to find some excuse not to make this man the first unanimous position player in the history of Hall of Fame voting?

Yikes. It’s embarrassing. Who cares if Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. weren’t unanimous. Let’s move on. Let’s do better. Let’s think about who we’re talking about here, when we mull the candidacy of the great Ichiro Suzuki …

4,367 hits? That’s more than Joe DiMaggio (2,214) and Yogi Berra (2,150) combined! I know the 1,278 hits in Japan don’t “count.” But it’s not like Ichiro got them in Williamsport, right? They happened!

10 seasons in a row with 200 hits and a Gold Glove Award? You know how many players in history have ever done that? Only one player in history has ever done that. Guess who! For what it’s worth, nobody else even had five seasons in a row like that.

2,244 hits in his first 10 seasons in the big leagues? Does that seem like a lot? You should answer yes to that! Maybe because those 2,244 hits by Ichiro in that decade are the most anyone has ever gotten in his first 10 big-league seasons. Here’s the tiny group that’s even within 300 hits of him:

Paul Waner* — 2,036
Kirby Puckett* — 1,996
Al Simmons* — 1,996
Wade Boggs* — 1,965
(*Hall of Famer)
(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

But of course, Ichiro kept going … for another nine years. So …

3,089 hits, 509 steals and 1,420 runs scored? That’s a staggering trifecta. The only other members of the 500-Steal, 1400-Run Club with more hits than Ichiro won’t take long to rattle off: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Paul Molitor and Eddie Collins. That’s another distinguished list of all Cooperstonians.

And just for fun, what if we counted Ichiro’s steals and runs scored from Japan? Then he’d have over 700 stolen bases and 2,000 runs. And, well, OMG! The only two men who ever stole and scored that many in American League/National League history? That would be Cobb … and Rickey Henderson … and that’s it. Or how about this …

84 Batting Runs above average, 121 Fielding Runs above average and 62 Baserunning Runs above average? According to Baseball Reference, that’s where Ichiro finished his career in MLB. And I know that sounds like analytics gobbledygook, but let me translate.

Only two outfielders in history had a career remotely like that — with at least 80 Batting Runs, 110 Fielding Runs and 50 Baserunning Runs. One was Ichiro. The other? Willie Mays.

So let me repeat what I asked in November: How is any voter going to explain why they didn’t vote for that guy — a global baseball icon, one of two men in AL/NL history to win an MVP and a Rookie of the Year award in the same season (the other: Fred Lynn) and … sorry, I can’t ignore this … the man who got more hits than anyone who ever played baseball in the two greatest leagues on Earth?

Ichiro Suzuki was the easiest Hall of Fame case on this ballot.

I think he will be the first unanimous position player. Deservedly so.

https://archive.ph/vthEf

I just don't get why none of these writers ever points out that Ichiro didn't 'grow" into the player he was in 2001 but was already there in 1994, and none of these writers ever bring it up or seemingly even look it up. https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... zuki001ich

The voting is done and the votes are counted.
Ichiro Suzuki was elected to the HOF on his first try.
*

NEWSFLASH:
Ichiro was not unanimously voted in.
*
Newsweek
1.9M Followers
Ichiro Suzuki Earns Hall of Fame Selection, But Isn't Unanimous Choice
Story by Jon Paul Hoornstra

Ichiro Suzuki became a Hall of Famer in his native country on Thursday, but the 51-year-old former outfielder was not a unanimous selection.

Longtime Japanese baseball reporter Jim Allen, writing on jballallen.com, noted that Suzuki became the seventh player ever inducted to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inducted on the first try.

However, 26 voters cast ballots without including Suzuki, giving him only 92.6 percent support in his only appearance on the Japanese ballot.

By contrast, Suzuki is also on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, for which 163 known ballots have been cast so far. Suzuki's name has been included on every ballot, according to Ryan Thibodeaux's online tracker.

As Allen explains:

No player has ever been a unanimous selection in Japan, largely because the eligibility was so badly handled for most of the hall's history. ... This is not an indictment of those 26 voters who didn't support Ichiro. Ichiro was going to go in without a struggle, and there are many deserving candidates on the ballot, and for a short time I toyed with the idea of not voting for him in order to give that vote to another deserving but under-supported player.

— Jim Allen

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motors ... 21db&ei=13

rockycola wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 17, 2025 7:32 am

The voting is done and the votes are counted.
Ichiro Suzuki was elected to the HOF on his first try.
*

NEWSFLASH:
Ichiro was not unanimously voted in.
*
Newsweek
1.9M Followers
Ichiro Suzuki Earns Hall of Fame Selection, But Isn't Unanimous Choice
Story by Jon Paul Hoornstra

Ichiro Suzuki became a Hall of Famer in his native country on Thursday, but the 51-year-old former outfielder was not a unanimous selection.

Longtime Japanese baseball reporter Jim Allen, writing on jballallen.com, noted that Suzuki became the seventh player ever inducted to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inducted on the first try.

However, 26 voters cast ballots without including Suzuki, giving him only 92.6 percent support in his only appearance on the Japanese ballot.

By contrast, Suzuki is also on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, for which 163 known ballots have been cast so far. Suzuki's name has been included on every ballot, according to Ryan Thibodeaux's online tracker.

As Allen explains:

No player has ever been a unanimous selection in Japan, largely because the eligibility was so badly handled for most of the hall's history. ... This is not an indictment of those 26 voters who didn't support Ichiro. Ichiro was going to go in without a struggle, and there are many deserving candidates on the ballot, and for a short time I toyed with the idea of not voting for him in order to give that vote to another deserving but under-supported player.

— Jim Allen

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motors ... 21db&ei=13

What??? The balloting has never been leaked before. I would take that with a giant grain O salt.