Voter who passed on Ichiro for Hall of Fame still a mystery after 321 of 394 ballots released

NEW YORK (AP) — The Hall of Fame voter who declined to select Ichiro Suzuki remains a mystery.

All 321 voters who allowed their ballots to be made public Tuesday by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America selected the Japanese star. Suzuki appeared on 393 of 394 ballots when voting was announced on Jan. 21.

“There’s one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from,” he said through a translator later that week. “I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together, and we’ll have a good chat.”

The Hall’s rules allow each voter the choice whether to make a ballot public. The BBWAA voted 80-19 at its December 2016 meeting to propose making all ballots public, but the Hall of Fame’s board of directors decided to leave the decision up to each voter.

Mariano Rivera remains the only player to get 100% of the vote from the BBWAA, appearing on all 425 ballots in 2019. Derek Jeter was chosen on 395 of 396 in 2020.

Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected by the BBWAA this year and will be inducted into the Hall at Cooperstown on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in by the classic era committee in December.

Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami (2015-17).

He is perhaps the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB, including a season-record 262 in 2004. His combined total of 4,367 exceeds Pete Rose’s MLB record of 4,256.