Ichiro Suzuki is all about baseball, but he's much more than that in Japan. Back home, he's a wellspring of national pride, much like Shohei Ohtani now. His triumphs across the Pacific buoyed the nation as Japan's economy sputtered through the so-called lost decades of the 1990s and into the 2000s.

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?

While the weather outside is unbearable for most at the moment, conditions in Cooperstown, NY will soon be warming up as the Baseball Hall of Fame is set to announce the newest class of inductees to its distinguished brotherhood of legends.

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

Félix Hernández's path to the Hall of Fame was sidetracked over the final three years of his career, but he was among baseball's best pitchers from 2006-16.

Ichiro has appeared on all 163 public ballots (44.4% of total). Sabathia (93.1%), Wagner (85.1%) and Beltran (80.5%) are above the 80% threshold needed for induction. Hernandez has appeared on 24.7% of ballots.

There’s nothing new to my 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, except the pleasure of voting for first-time eligibles Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia. Of the 28 players appearing on this year’s ballot, I checked six boxes.