Going into Tuesday’s reveal of the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Class, there was little doubt that ten-time All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki would be elected into Cooperstown.
In the end, all but one voter agreed to do just that, which left the obvious question: Which voter didn’t include Suzuki on their ballot?
To be elected into the Hall of Fame, players on the ballot need to receive 296 votes of the 394 total ballots cast. In his first eligible year, Suzuki well surpassed this threshold, receiving 99.746 percent of the electorate vote (393 total votes). That marks the second-highest percentage of votes that any position player has ever gotten, second only to Derek Jeter who was one vote short of unanimous in 2020.
Throughout his illustrious 19-year MLB career, Suzuki recorded 3,089 hits, 117 home runs, 509 stolen bases, ten Gold Glove awards, and two batting titles. And that came after a nine-year career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball where he had an entirely different list of accomplishments and accolades.
Ichiro Suzuki embodies the word Hall of Famer to a tee in the eyes of almost all baseball fans. So naturally, media pundits began to wonder who would leave him off their ballot and why.
“Ichiro missed unanimity by 1 vote,” wrote Jon Heyman of the New York Post on X. “Please step forward, you numbskull.”
Ichiro missed unanimity by 1 vote. Please step forward, you numbskull
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 21, 2025
“Ichiro Suzuki not unanimously getting voted in is just ridiculous,” wrote former 670 The Score host Herb Lawrence on X. “I know the ‘what does it matter’ crowd are out there but it matters because the people who didn’t vote for him are baseball illiterate & should not be trusted with this prestigious honor.”
Ichiro Suzuki not unanimously getting voted in is just ridiculous
I know the “what does it matter” crowd are out there but it matters because the people who didn’t vote for him are baseball illiterate & should not be trusted with this prestigious honor pic.twitter.com/AQ6aXtwCmR
— Herb Lawrence (@Ecnerwal23) January 21, 2025
“Not sure how you could be a Hall of Fame voter looking at Ichiro’s body of work and be like ‘Yeah, I just don’t see it,'” wrote Jared Carrabis of the Baseball is Dead podcast.
Not sure how you could be a Hall of Fame voter looking at Ichiro’s body of work and be like, “Yeah, I just don’t see it.”
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) January 21, 2025
“Somebody didn’t vote for Ichiro, after his MLB career of: 3,089 hits, 1,420 runs, 509 SB, 10 Gold Gloves, an MVP Award, 2 batting titles, a season of 262 hits, 10 All-Star selections,” wrote ESPN’s Buster Olney.
Somebody didn’t vote for Ichiro, after his MLB career of:
3,089 hits
1,420 runs
509 SB
10 Gold Gloves
An MVP Award
2 batting titles
A season of 262 hits
10 All-Star selections— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 21, 2025
“Ichiro missed being a unanimous Hall of Famer by 1 vote,” wrote Fox Sports MLB analyst Ben Verlander on X. “Out yourself. Who didn’t vote for Ichiro? And why?”
Ichiro missed being a unanimous Hall of Famer by 1 vote.
Out yourself. Who didn’t vote for Ichiro. And why?
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) January 21, 2025
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that Ichiro will rightfully take his place in Cooperstown on July 27. But this does raise questions about how informed every voter might be if one of them is going to leave a surefire candidate like Suzuki off their ballot.
Unfortunately, we may never know the identity of the anonymous voter. In 2016, a proposal to have all Hall of Fame ballots be made public by the Baseball Writers Association of America was rejected by The Board of Directors of the Hall of Fame.