SEATTLE – There comes a point in this job where a disconnect takes place. The fandom of your youth evolves. You can still be a fan of events and opportunities, and it’s not a secret that teams and players experiencing success are simply more enjoyable to deal with, most of the time.
What’s developed instead is a professional appreciation. The teams might be terrible. The games can be monotonous. But sometimes you just sit back and say, “Damn, that guy is really good at seemingly everything he does.”
That is how it felt to watch Ichiro. That’s why it was immediate to check his name when my ninth Baseball Hall of Fame ballot arrived.
This year’s ballot has a decided Mariners feel between Ichiro and Félix Hernández, and I voted for both. I’m generally a “Big Hall” voter. There are 10 votes available and generally, I tend to check 10 boxes.
Are they all worthy of Cooperstown induction? That’s a fair debate. But for too long the Hall has felt overwhelmingly too exclusive. Too many good players have either been left out or eventually found their way into Cooperstown but only via various committees, sometimes long after they passed.
So like past ballots, I voted for 10 this year. Ichiro was the first box I ticked; Félix was the last of my 10. In between, I continued to give my support to Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Chase Utley and Carlos Beltrán. I returned Bobby Abreu back to my ballot and added CC Sabathia in his first year.
And I continued to vote for Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez despite their failed performance-enhancing drug tests in the past. The performance enhancers probably helped, but there still remains the innate skill of putting the bat on ball and they are two of the best to ever do it.
Ichiro should receive a unanimous vote, and if he doesn’t, it’ll just be another example of someone or “someones” being stubbornly combative toward one of the greatest players in this generation. Of course, Ken Griffey Jr. wasn’t unanimous, which remains one of the great injustices in the recent history of voting.
But considering the best player in the world right now, Shohei Ohtani, is Japanese, it would be a momentous event to see Ichiro be the first unanimous position player inducted to the Hall of Fame.
Félix likely will never get there, and that’s just reality. For seven seasons he was in the discussion of being the best pitcher in baseball. But seven seasons rarely is enough to be a Hall of Famer. The hope with Félix is he stays on the ballot long enough to continue gaining incremental support along the way and see if his candidacy can generate the kind of momentum that Edgar Martinez gained on his way to Cooperstown.
Class to be announced Tuesday
The 2025 Hall of Fame class will be announced Tuesday, and as of Sunday four players are on track to make the cut, according to BBWAA voter Mark Newman, who has been tracking public votes.
Ichiro has appeared on all 163 public ballots (44.4% of total). Sabathia (93.1%), Wagner (85.1%) and Beltran (80.5%) are above the 80% threshold needed for induction.
Hernandez has appeared on 24.7% of ballots.