Ichiro Suzuki Will Be Next Seattle Mariner Heading To Hall of Fame

The Seattle Mariners finally have someone in the Hall of Fame, with Ken Griffey Jr. earning his spot into Cooperstown yesterday with the highest percentage ever. I highly doubt that anyone is going to beat Griffey’s 99.3 percent of the vote (437 of 440 votes) anytime in the next decade. He hasn’t been officially inducted as a Mariner yet, but it is seen as a forgone conclusion when comparing his years with Seattle to his time with the Cincinnati Reds.

For Mariners fans, there was another important name that received a decent amount of votes. Edgar Martinez did make a huge jump when looking at his numbers in 2015 (43.4 percent compared to 27 percent in 2015), but his number of votes needed is quite alarming. The big talk seems to be if Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who are around the 45 percent range as well, are going to eventually make it into Cooperstown. The problem for Martinez is he has only three years left to get to the 75 percent needed for induction. He was 139 votes short this year. That is 139 people who have to be convinced in the next three years that Martinez deserves to be in the Hall.

With only two inducted this year, Griffey and Mike Piazza, it’s not as if there are that many more votes to be spread around. Out of the players who will be on the ballot next year, there is maybe one who could be a first ballot induction (Vladimir Guerrero). That being said, there are quite a few who have the potential to take votes that Griffey and Piazza had this year. 2017 and 2018 have large classes that have potential first ballot inductees, so it only gets harder after next year. There are no Mariners in the next few seasons besides Martinez with a chance at Cooperstown, but within the next 10 years, Seattle is likely to have its second Hall of Famer.

Ichiro Suzuki is still playing in MLB, but at age 42 his career is in its the last stages. He could play for a few more years, but more than likely he will retire when he gets his 3,000th MLB hit this season. Ichiro didn’t start his career in America until he was 27, so that hit total would be quite remarkable.

Ichiro is a career .314 hitter, has the record for hits in a season with 262, 10 consecutive 200 hit seasons, 10 straight All-Star appearances, 10 straight Gold Gloves, 2001 Rookie of the Year, MVP, stolen base leader and once he hits his 3,000th hit, he will actually be the hits leader for professional baseball history. His resume speaks for itself, and he is still adding to it, playing with the Miami Marlins this upcoming season.

If anyone has a chance of topping Griffey’s record for votes, it might actually be Ichiro. Not only is Ichiro one of the best hitters in MLB history, he was the first position player from Japan to play in the majors, has absolutely no suspicion against him involving PEDs and was the model for consistency in the 2000s. It’s hard to come up with any reason not to vote for Ichiro when his time comes.

As of now Ichiro is still playing, so voting is still over five years away. Unfortunately, I don’t see Martinez getting into Cooperstown unless it’s through the Veterans Committee. Hopefully Mariners fans can just be happy for Griffey right now and realize that he will not be the only Mariner in the Hall; it might just be awhile until Ichiro joins him.