There was no surprise when it was announced that Ichiro Suzuki would enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. What was a surprise, though, was that one baseball writer didn’t think Ichiro deserved first-ballot consideration.

Among baseball's newest Hall of Famers, Ichiro Suzuki came one vote shy of a unanimous election – something that has only happened once in history. At a media conference in Cooperstown on Thursday, the first-ever Japanese Hall of Famer joked about the lone member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who did not include him on their 2025 ballot.