Here's Ichiro's hilarious response to Hall of Fame voter who snubbed him

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on Jan 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SEATTLE — It’s likely we’ll never uncover the identity of the one voter who did not include Ichiro on his or her Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

Ichiro would like to meet that person, though.

“I was able to receive many votes from the writers, and I’m grateful for them,” Ichiro said through interpreter Allen Turner during a news conference Thursday in Cooperstown, N.Y. “But there was one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from. I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together, and we’ll have a good chat.”

That comment drew laughs from Billy Wagner and CC Sabathia, who shared the stage with Ichiro as the three new members of the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

Ichiro, the Mariners icon, garnered support from 393 of the 394 voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, as announced Tuesday. His 99.7% share of the votes matched Derek Jeter (2020) for the highest percentage of votes received among position players.

In 2016, another Mariners icon, Ken Griffey Jr., fell three votes short of a unanimous selection.

Larry Stone — the longtime Seattle Times baseball writer and columnist, and a former BBWAA president — went to great lengths to try to identify those three voters from 2016, but he ultimately struck out. Those three people remain a mystery — and the one voter who snubbed Ichiro will likely remain a mystery.

A note on the BBWAA voting process: To be eligible to vote, a writer must be a BBWAA member who has covered baseball for at least 10 years. Voters have the option to check a box on the ballot if they would like their votes to be made public via the Baseball Hall of Fame website. Most voters do choose that option, and those will be revealed Feb. 4.

It is not required that voters make their votes public.

The BBWAA has voted on two occasions to make public ballots a requirement. The Hall of Fame, however, has declined to do so.