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.

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 —

CC Sabathia’s anticipated election to the Baseball Hall of Fame will hopefully encourage people to think differently regarding the achievements of starting pitchers.

The Seattle Mariners all-time hit king and owner of several MLB and NPB records received the first of what's likely to be two different Hall of Fame inductions earlier this week.

NEW YORK – There’s nothing new to my 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, except the pleasure of voting for first-time eligibles Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia. Of the 28 players appearing on this year’s ballot, I checked six boxes.

Major League Baseball today is played a lot differently than it was in previous eras. The game today involves a lot of home runs and a lot of strikeouts, while in previous eras, batting average and getting on base was more of a focus.

That’s why it was immediate to check his name when my ninth Baseball Hall of Fame ballot arrived. This year’s ballot has a decided Mariners feel between Ichiro and Félix Hernández, and I voted for both.