Ichiro Suzuki enters Baseball Hall of Fame in near-unanimous fashion

Ichiro Suzuki’s lengthy baseball career is Hall of Fame worthy — nearly unanimously so.The Japanese superstar was voted into Cooperstown on Tuesday, coming up one vote short of being the second player to net 100 percent of the vote.With 393 of the 394 possible votes, Suzuki’ 99.7% percentage is tied for second-highest all-time with ex-Yankees legend Derek Jeter.His former Yankees teammate, reliever Mariano Rivera, remains the only player to have accomplished the feat, though Ichiro now has the distinction of being the first Japanese-born MLB player to be enshrined.Ichiro began his MLB odyssey in 2001 with the Mariners, already a seasoned professional at the age of 27, and quickly became one of the game’s biggest stars with the Mariners.In his first season stateside, he won American League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors and Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards while making the first of 10 consecutive All-Star Games.He posted a career WAR of 60 — according to Baseball Reference — over 19 MLB seasons, which included 14 with the Mariners and three apiece with the Yankees and Marlins, collecting 3,089 hits.He led the majors in hits seven times and batting average twice.In 2004, Ichiro broke George Sisler’s single-season hits record when he collected 262 base knocks in a career-high 9.2 WAR season.Despite his lengthy resume, several notable baseball insiders were left to wonder which of their fellow sportswriters left him off their ballot.“Ichiro missed unanimity by 1 vote,” The Post’s Jon Heyman posted on X.

“Please step forward, you numbskull.”“It’ll be interesting to see if the person who didn’t vote for Ichiro is transparent in the reasoning behind that decision,” ESPN’s Buster Olney wondering on X.Before coming to the U.S., Ichiro starred with the Nippon Professional Baseball’s Orix BlueWave for nine seasons, collecting 1,278 hits while mashing 118 home runs with a .353 batting average....