Ichiro Suzuki has made history as the first Japanese player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, leading the 2024 class alongside CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

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 Suzuki has made even more history. The all-time great hitter is heading to Cooperstown, with C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner joining him.