Ichiro Suzuki is set to become the first Japanese player to make it to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is likely to be the next.

On the same day that Ichiro Suzuki learned that he'd been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Seattle Mariners announced that they'll retire his No. 51 during the upcoming season: Ichiro's number will be officially honored in a ceremony prior to the Mariners' game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday,

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.

Global baseball's hit king Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player elected to Major League baseball's Hall of Fame on Tuesday, just one vote shy of unanimous selection.- More hits than Rose - Ichiro was 27 when he made his debut with the Mariners in 2001,

The Seattle Mariners will honor a franchise legend in 2025. Ichiro Suzuki was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday in a near-unanimous vote. Seattle announced later in the day that they would make 2025 a banner year for their franchise legend.

The Seattle Mariners will honor the new Cooperstown, N.Y., member by retiring and displaying his number alongside fellow franchise Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez.