CC Sabathia’s anticipated election to the Baseball Hall of Fame will hopefully encourage people to think differently regarding the achievements of starting pitchers.

To this point, only famed Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has been elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously — not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, not Ken Griffey Jr. nor Derek Jeter, just Rivera. Could Suzuki be the second?

A guide to how the Baseball Hall of Fame selects its members each year through voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he is much more than that at home in Japan. Ichiro is a wellspring of national pride — like Shohei Ohtani now — and his fame across the Pacific was therapeutic as the national economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades.

Ichiro might be the only inductee this summer. Fine, he deserves the spotlight. But we get 10 votes. Here are mine, ranked, with an explanation for each.

The ever-smiling legend, Ichiro Suzuki, was just inducted into the Japanese Hall of Fame, and his name has also been nominated for the US National Baseball Hall of Fame. The post Baseball Fandom Blame Japan for Keeping Ichiro Suzuki From Creating History After Recent Hall of Fame Setback appeared first on EssentiallySports.

Baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced Tuesday, and Ichiro is certain to get the call. Will he also have the honor of a unanimous vote?