It is Ichiro Suzuki’s first time on the Hall of Fame Ballot.
Ichiro played 19 years in the MLB (after 9 seasons in the JPPL). He played for the Mariners, Yankees, and Marlins before returning to Seattle for 17 games over two seasons. He played his last MLB game at age 45.
In 2653 MLB games, he hit .311/.355/.402 with 117 home runs, 96 triples, 509 steals and a 60.0 bWAR. He had 3089 hits in the MLB. Add in the 1278 in the JPPL and he had 4367 hits.
He won MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2001, received MVP votes eight other times, won ten Gold Gloves, and made ten All-Star teams.
He led the AL in batting average twice, hits seven times, steals once, at-bats eight times and bWAR once (9.2 in 2004). He had bWARs over 5.0 six times and over 6.0 twice.
Ichiro had a long stretch of peak seasons from age 27 to 36. He did drop off some after that.
Suzuki was my youngest son’s favourite for many years (and still might be). We went to Seattle when he was quite young and, of course, came back with a jersey and a new batting stance that confused his little league coaches for a bit. There could have been worse role models.