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.

The ever-smiling legend, Ichiro Suzuki, was just inducted into the Japanese Hall of Fame, and his name has also been nominated for the US National Baseball Hall of Fame. The post Baseball Fandom Blame Japan for Keeping Ichiro Suzuki From Creating History After Recent Hall of Fame Setback appeared first on EssentiallySports.

The baseball world was left delighted on Ichiro's induction into Cooperstown. But who opted to keep him off their ballot and deny him the glory of being a unanimous choice?

In my business, that knee-jerk response comes in handy. Fending off blame is a survival skill. A columnist knows he can’t fight a tidal wave of angry emails and social-media posts and, at some point, gives up trying to argue he is not, in fact, a nitwit. From there, it’s a short hop to a renunciation of any personal responsibility.

New Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, now 51, still loves putting on the Seattle Mariners' uniform for pre-game workouts.

At a Hall of Fame news conference, Ichiro joined the ranks of many people around the globe in wondering why he didn’t get that one vote.

Ichiro Suzuki said he wants to meet with the one person who voted against his induction into the Hall of Fame after he fell one vote shy of being unanimous.

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 —

Willie McGee won the National League MVP or the 1985 season, in which he hit just 10 home runs. McGee also batted .353. Vince Coleman scored 107 runs that season, and he had more than three times as many stolen bases (110) as he had extra-base hits (31). The leading home run hitter on the team, Jack Clark, hit just 22 homers.

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.

Former Mariners, Yankees, and Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki became a Hall of Famer on Thursday, but he was not a unanimous selection

TOKYO — 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 ...