© Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
It was announced on Tuesday evening that Ichiro Suzuki was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and will be one of three players enshrined forever in Cooperstown. Getting into Cooperstown was a certainty as Ichiro is one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game but he was unfortunately robbed of a unanimous vote when 1 single BBWAA voter left him off their ballot and Ichior only received votes on 99.7% of the ballots casted.
When Ichiro Suzuki was informed that he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame there was a surprise guest that hopped on camera to talk with him. That guest was Ken Griffey Jr., a fellow Hall of Famer and Seattle Mariners legend, who requested Ichiro bring two nice bottles of Japanese rice wine (Sake) to the ceremony for them to enjoy.
It was a nice moment between two Seattle and baseball legends but the best moment of the clip actually comes when Ken Griffey Jr. stops talking and Ichiro calls him by his real first name: George.
Here’s that lovely clip between The Kid and Ichiro:
Ken Griffey Jr. welcomes Ichiro to the @BaseballHall 💙 pic.twitter.com/vaB8Yp6J3j
— MLB (@MLB) January 21, 2025
And it is at this moment that some of you out there are learning for the very first time that The Kid’s full name is George Kenneth Griffey Jr… Similarly, I hope you all know that Tiger’s real name is Eldrick Tont Woods.
It is worth noting that Ichiro Suzuki’s 99.7% share of ballots just slightly edged Ken Griffey Jr’s 99.3%. My colleague Connor just published a list of MLB Hall of Famers who received the most votes and those are 2 of the top 4. Jeter also got 99.7% and only Mariano Rivera was unanimous.
Looking at these percentages, how in the heck did Nolan Ryan only receive 98.8% of the votes?! The 11x Strikeout Leader and 8x All-Star threw 7 no-hitters, 12 one-hitters, and 18 two-hitters. He’s the GOAT and someone 1.2% of voters left him off their ballot.