The longtime Seattle Mariners ace is set to be at the forefront of the argument for a new generation of pitchers.

If that remains the case when the final results are released by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday, Ichiro will be the first Japanese-born player in the Hall of Fame and just the second player ever to be unanimously elected to Cooperstown.

Ichiro, who spent parts of 14 years with the Mariners, will become the third player to wear an M's hat in Cooperstown!

Ichiro will join fellow Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Jackie Robinson as the only players to have their uniform number retired by the M's.

Other bits of intrigue ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. announcement: Will CC Sabathia be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is this the year Billy Wagner gets in?

Tuesday is one of the holy days on the baseball calendar, the announcement of players voted into the Hall of Fame. The honor is extreme and well-earned, with just over 1% of all big leaguers making it to Cooperstown for what they did as players: 275 out of 23,370.

It started in 1992. That’s when Ichiro made his debut in professional baseball. In 1992, Ichiro made his debut for the Orix Blue Wave at the age of 18.

Used to leading off, Ichiro Suzuki got antsy when he had to wait. Considered a no-doubt pick for baseball's Hall of Fame and possibly the second unanimous selection, he waited by the phone for the expected call Tuesday.

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?

Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki made history as the first Japanese player to earn induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but fell just one vote shy of being a unanimous selection.

Ichiro Suzuki missed unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote Tuesday night, when he headlined a three-player class selected by the 394 voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.