In the meantime, the Clown of the Year award goes to the writer who decided Suzuki wasn’t worthy of the Hall of Fame. My friends are all asking who could be that dumb. I think it’s more about spite than idiocy.

Ichiro Suzuki, the dominant contact hitter whose 19 years in the major leagues, mostly with the Seattle Mariners, became the first Asian player elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Players are elected to the Hall of Fame provided they are named on at least 75% of ballots cast by eligible voting members of the BBWAA. With 394 ballots submitted in the 2025 election, candidates needed to receive 296 votes to be elected.