Womack: Ichiro will be an easy Hall of Famer; a few better players won’t

From SABR member Graham Womack at The Sporting News on June 21, 2016:

At this point, it’s only a matter of how much longer Ichiro Suzuki wants to keep playing.

Whether he sticks around merely as long as it takes to get to 3,000 hits in the majors or the ageless wonder plays a few more years, he’ll arrive on the Hall of Fame ballot for the Baseball Writers Association of America five years after he retires.

When this happens, Ichiro will be a quick, almost automatic selection for Cooperstown. The writers will vote Ichiro in as soon as he’s eligible, making him one of the easiest inductions in recent years. He won’t get 100 percent of the vote, because no one does, but it’ll be close.

“Ichiro Suzuki,” the headlines might read five years from now. “Not the ‘real’ Hit King, but an easy Hall of Famer.”

Read the full article here: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/ichiro-suzuki-hit-king-hall-of-fame/9pu2xgisobx71ivgf6ro2k955



Originally published: June 22, 2016. Last Updated: June 22, 2016.