SEATTLE — Two of the best Seattle Mariners players in franchise history will have their first crack at being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025.
Next year's ballot, announced on Monday morning, features both Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez.
Ichiro is widely expected to be inducted in his first year on the ballot after a sterling professional career in both his home country of Japan and in the United States with Major League Baseball (MLB). One of just two rookies to ever win an Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, Suzuki still holds the sport's modern-day record with 262 hits in a single season.
Despite spending the first nine seasons of his pro career in Japan, Ichiro still amassed over 3,000 hits and was named an All-Star 10 times. In the field, Ichiro also won 10 Gold Glove awards in a row from 2001-10. Suzuki began his MLB career in Seattle before departing in 2012. He returned to the Pacific Northwest and finished his career in Seattle, retiring during the 2019 season.
Hernandez has much longer odds to get the necessary 75% of votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to be inducted. Hernandez played his entire professional career with the Mariners from 2005-2019, winning one Cy Young Award as the American League's top pitcher in 2010.
The most memorable moment of Hernandez' career came several years after that Cy Young, when "King Felix" threw the first perfect game in Mariners franchise history and just the 23rd in the 100-plus year history of MLB. Despite Hernandez' dominance throughout his tenure in Seattle, the team never once earned a playoff berth while he was in uniform.
The Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown, New York, and writers have until Dec. 31 to cast their ballots. The results will be announced on Jan. 21, 2025.