Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he's much more than that in Japan. “He healed the wounds in Japan’s national psyche,” Kiyoteru Tsutsui, professor of sociology at Stanford University, told The Associated Press.

NEW YORK – There’s nothing new to my 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, except the pleasure of voting for first-time eligibles Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia. Of the 28 players appearing on this year’s ballot, I checked six boxes. Ichiro, with his all-around brilliance, ought to be unanimous.

To this point, only famed Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has been elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously — not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, not Ken Griffey Jr. nor Derek Jeter, just Rivera. Could Suzuki be the second?

Ichiro might be the only inductee this summer. Fine, he deserves the spotlight. But we get 10 votes. Here are mine, ranked, with an explanation for each.

Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced Tuesday, and Ichiro is certain to get the call. Will he also have the honor of a unanimous vote?

The Seattle Mariners all-time hit king and owner of several MLB and NPB records received the first of what's likely to be two different Hall of Fame inductions earlier this week.

Before Mariners great Ichiro is likely voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, we revisit 10 of his best career moments.

I filled up all 10 slots on my Hall of Fame ballot this year. This is that column where I let you in on which 10 boxes I checked.

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.

That’s why it was immediate to check his name when my ninth Baseball Hall of Fame ballot arrived. This year’s ballot has a decided Mariners feel between Ichiro and Félix Hernández, and I voted for both.