Ichiro doesn't take all of them, but unanimous denial prevails over positivity. MLB.com expert survey
Dec 23, 2024
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Ichiro retired after 2019 and is in his first year of HOF entry this year. Immediately after his retirement, he was considered a candidate for HOF unanimously and has received hot attention from both the U.S. and Japan. The HOF results, which will be held by voting for reporters from the BBWAA (National Baseball Journalists Association) for more than 10 years, will be announced on the MLB Network on the 22nd.
This year, 14 players, including Ichiro, CC Sabathia, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Felix Hernandez, Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Ramirez, are the first to qualify as candidates. In addition, 28 candidates for more than two years, Carlos Beltran, Andrew Jones, Andy Petit, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Billy Wagner and Jimmy Rollins, are waiting for the results of the BBWAA vote.
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On the 23rd (Korea time), will MLB.com become a member of the HOF unanimously? An article titled 'Experts Opinion' answered the question. Fifty-five reporters, commentators, and analysts from MLB.com participated in the survey.
In response to the survey, MLB.com explained that the question posed to each individual is not whether Ichiro is qualified for a unanimous Hall of Fame induction, but whether he will be chosen by consensus in the BBWAA. In other words, he asked what the choice of the group BBWAA would be, rather than the opinions of individual experts who participated in the survey, about Ichiro's unanimous entry into the HOF.
The result was unexpected. 'Yes' was less than 'No'. Twenty-five people said "yes" and 30 said "no". More responses expected to fail in unanimity.
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Ichiro boasted the best offense and defense in the major leagues of his time. After making his major league debut with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, he played for the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins and recorded a career-high 3089 hits, 509 steals, 1420 runs and an OPS of 0.757 for 19 seasons until retiring from Seattle in 2019. He has the most hits and highest batting average from Asia.
In particular, he built an unprecedented gold tower of .300, 200 hits, Gold Glove, and All-Star selection for 10 consecutive years from 2001 to 2010, and he won the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP at the same time in his debut season. In 2004, he had 262 hits, breaking George Sizzler's record of 257 hits in 1920 for the first time in 84 years.
It is rated as the most perfect heater and leadoff in history. He did not make much controversy on and off the ground, and even after taking off his uniform, he went back and forth between the United States and Japan and showed his presence in the baseball world.
However, even some of the greatest legends in history failed to reach a unanimous agreement. Derek Jeter won 99.7% of the vote in 2020 with one in 397 against it. In 2016, Ken Griffey Jr. only accounted for 99.3% of 440 people who did not approve, including 311 wins-3640 strikeouts, three-time Cy Young Award winner Tom Seaver (98.8% in 1992), 20th century All-time pitcher Nolan Ryan (98.8% in 1999), 2632 consecutive games, Carl Ripken Jr. (98.5% in 2007), and original hit king Ty Cobb (98.2% in 1936).
jhno@sportschosun.com
