Ichiro wants to 'have a drink' with writer who didn't vote for him for HOF

Newly-elected Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki took a playful shot at the lone baseball writer who didn't vote for him.

"I was able to receive many votes from the writers, and (I'm) grateful for them," Suzuki said at his Hall of Fame news conference, per SNY.

"But there was one writer that I wasn't able to get a vote from. I would like to invite him over to my house, and we'll have a drink together, and we'll have a good chat."

Ichiro Suzuki offers to have the only writer that did not vote him into the Baseball Hall of Fame over to his house to "have a drink together and have a good chat" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/FlMzAbEp4R
— SNY (@SNYtv) January 23, 2025

Suzuki fell just short of a unanimous admission, receiving 393 of a possible 394 votes. He joins New York Yankees legend and former teammate Derek Jeter as the only players to receive 99.7% of the votes.

As such, all-time great closer Mariano Rivera remains the only player in MLB history to be inducted unanimously.

Suzuki earned his place in baseball lore with 3,089 hits over 19 MLB seasons. He also won seven batting titles and amassed 1,278 hits in Japan before coming to North America.

He'll be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 27 alongside C.C. Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Dick Allen, and Dave Parker. Allen and Parker were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee last month.