Ichiro Suzuki is set to become the first Japanese player to make it to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is likely to be the next.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he is much more than that at home in Japan. Ichiro is a wellspring of national pride — like Shohei Ohtani now — and his fame across the Pacific was therapeutic as the national economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades.

Global baseball's hit king Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player elected to the Major League Baseball's (MLB) Hall of Fame on Tuesday (Jan 21), just one vote shy of unanimous selection.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Ichiro Suzuki falling one vote short of unanimous election raised eyebrows, but it's far from the biggest flub in Hall of Fame voting history.

Fellow Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, named on all but one ballot back in 2020, knows a little about what Ichiro experienced this week.