The reporter who opposed Wagner confidently said, and the reporter who ignored it with reason hid again, revealing the status of the HOF vote

Feb 05, 2025

Ichiro Suzuki attends the HOF press conference held in Cooperstown, New York, on the 24th of last month (Korea time). AP Yonhap News

Ichiro Suzuki (from left), Billy Wagner and CC Sabathia, who were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2025. AP Yonhap News

In the history of Major League Hall of Fame (HOF) voting, two players failed to unanimously vote due to a lack of one vote.

Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees for ever and Ichiro Suzuki, who is considered the best 'contact heater' in history.

Jeter was supported by 396 out of 397 reporters in the 2020 BBWAA (National Baseball Journalists Association) HOF vote. In the previous year, when Mariano Rivera, a fellow Yankees player, was inducted into the HOF with the first unanimous opinion ever with 100% of the vote, Jeter was secretly looking forward to it.

But only one journalist did not choose him. Jeter's 99.748 percent of the vote was the second highest ever after Rivera. At that time, criticism poured out against the reporter who turned a blind eye to Jeter, but so far, nothing has been revealed about the reporter's identity.

At the time, Jeter "I looked into all the votes I got. You have to get a lot of votes to get into the HOF. It is very difficult to get a lot of journalists to agree on something. Unanimity is not on my mind. It's just an honor to be chosen by HOF and I'm so happy."

Derrick Jeter (from left), Larry Walker, and Ted Simmons pose with a copper plate engraved with the faces of the assets at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony held at the Crack Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York, on September 9, 2021 (Korea time). AP Yonhap News

However, as questions were constantly asked about reporters who did not support him "I think the same responsibility should be given to not only the players but also to the members of the media. I don't care who didn't vote for me. What's annoying is that I have to answer that question constantly"But I don't think I should answer that question. Even if it's right for anyone to answer the question, it's not a problem for me, but I'm tired of being asked that question."

Ichiro was proudly honored in his first year as a candidate with the third-largest vote in history (99.746%) with the support of 393 out of 394 people in this year's HOF vote. However, only one journalist opposed Ichiro's entry into the HOF. Nor is it known who the journalist is or why he made that choice.

Public opinion in the U.S. and Japan raged over this. There was even an extreme opinion that the reporter should be found and kicked out. MLB Network reporter John Heyman, a prominent columnist, wrote on his social media that `Ichiro missed the unanimous vote by just one vote. 'Please come forward, you numbskull' criticized the journalist in a raw way.

Ichiro Suzuki is wearing a Hall of Fame jersey. AP Yonhap News

However, on the 5th (Korea time), BBWAA announced the current status of support from reporters who participated in this HOF vote. It revealed who each reporter voted for.

For Hayman, he chose Carlos Beltran, Mark Burley, Felix Hernandez, Tori Hunter, Andrew Jones, Jimmy Rollins, CC Sabathia, Chase Utley, David Wright, and Ichiro. The maximum number of people, 10 people, was chosen. It should be noted that Hayman also did not support Billy Wagner, who was inducted with 82.5% of the vote. As such, different reporters may have different opinions.

However, the general sentiment is that only one of the 394 people "NO" is different. A total of 321 reporters were disclosed by BBWAA on the same day. Of the 394 people who exercised HOF voting rights, 73 declined to disclose. Even the reporter who did not support Ichiro does not seem to want his identity to be exposed.

At a HOF press conference in Cooperstown, New York, on the 24th of last month, Ichiro responded to a reporter who rejected him, saying, `I have received votes from many reporters, and I would like to thank them"But one journalist did not vote for me. I want to invite him to my house and have a drink together. "I think I can talk about good things..." he said, expressing his regret with a pleasant expression.

At the 2016 meeting, the BBWAA prepared a regulation to disclose the current status of HOF voting for each reporter with an overwhelming approval of 80-19. However, the HOF Management Committee decided to exclude unwanted reporters by putting the brakes on whether or not to disclose it to individual reporters. At the time the jitter was inducted, 82 reporters were reluctant to disclose the results.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.