In the bottom of the eighth inning of the April 15, 2001, game between the Oakland A's and visiting Seattle Mariners, A's outfielder Terrence Long bounced a leadoff single up the middle off Aaron Sele.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous.

For Ichiro Suzuki, whose baseball career defied convention and shattered records, his induction into the Hall of Fame has long felt less like a crowning achievement and more like an inevitable conclusion to one of the sport’s most remarkable journeys.

It’s tempting to say Ichiro Suzuki, with his detached sense of cool, record-breaking hitting prowess and 28 seasons of excellence on both sides of the globe, was made for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Probably more accurate to say the Hall of Fame was made for him.

Ichiro Suzuki could have been immortalized as a first-ballot Hall of Famer nearly a decade ago. He was last a full-time starter in 2012, at age 38. He logged his 3,000th hit in 2016, when he was 42. Still, he made us wait three more years to celebrate his retirement.

The baseball world was left delighted on Ichiro's induction into Cooperstown. But who opted to keep him off their ballot and deny him the glory of being a unanimous choice?

Ichiro Suzuki is expected to be the first Japanese player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and possibly only the second player chosen unanimously after New York

One of MLB's most adored figures, Suzuki's statistical accomplishments are staggering, and his success supercharged a Japanese talent pipeline that continues today.

Ichiro Suzuki's unforgettable career has the ending it deserves, as the Japanese icon has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner will join Ichiro in the Class of 2025.

Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is about to be honored with induction to the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he’s much more than that in Japan. Back home, he’s a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan’s economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.