Former Seattle Mariners player Ichiro Suzuki

Yesterday at 06:38 PM

One person believes Ichiro Suzuki is not a Hall of Famer.

The Seattle Mariners legend received 393 votes from the panel of voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America to secure his spot in Cooperstown but his name did not appear on one ballot.

Yankees clutch closer Mariano Rivera (Class of 2019) remains the only unanimous inductee in the 81 years of voting by the BBWAA. Derek Jeter, like Suzuki, came one vote short of being unanimous in 2020. Ken Griffey Jr. came within three votes in 2016.

Suzuki arrived in Seattle in 2001 at age 27 after already nearly a decade of success in his native Japan. In his first season, he had 242 hits to win the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year awards. Suzuki won 10 Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers over his 19-year MLB career while collecting 3,089 hits. He retired at age 45 with a .311 batting average in more than 2,653 games.

Pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were also elected on Tuesday. Sabathia finished with 86.8 per cent of the vote in his first year on the ballot, and Wagner, in his 10th and final shot at enshrinement, received 82.5 per cent. Players need to surpass the 75 per cent mark to be inducted.