Seattle Mariners Star Ichiro Suzuki Will Donate Personal Collection to Baseball Hall of Fame
After earning 99.7 percent of the vote this year, Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki will go into the Baseball Hall of Fame this July in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The ceremony is set for July 27 and Ichiro will enter alongside CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Dick Allen and Dave Parker.
One of the best players to ever play the game, Ichiro was a professional for 28 seasons between his time in Japan and the United States. He played for the Mariners, New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, earning more than 4,300 combined professional hits. He was a 10-time All-Star and a 10-time Gold Glover.
He helped the Mariners to an American-League record 116 wins in 2001 and also helped the M's get to the ALCS in 2001. Sadly, he never got to the playoffs with the Mariners again, but his legacy lives on.
Ironically enough, Ichiro forged a special relationship with the Baseball Hall of Fame during his playing career. Former Baseball Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson recently joined the "Refuse to Lose" podcast here on Mariners on SI to talk about his relationship with Ichiro and Ichiro's appreciation for baseball history.
Furthermore, Idelson revealed that Ichiro plans to donate his entire personal collection to Cooperstown. Though that hasn't happened yet, it will happen down the road, and Ichiro will join the likes of Hank Aaron in doing so.
"...it culminated with him wanting to follow in the footsteps of Hank Aaron and Tom Seaver, two players who pledged their entire collections to Cooperstown, Ichiro said 'I want to be the third much later in my life.'" (27:00 mark).
You can listen to the full episode of the podcast HERE with a reminder that new episodes are released each Tuesday and Friday.
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