Yahoo Sports The lone voter who left Ichiro off their Hall of Fame ballot needs to reveal themselves
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Ichiro Suzuki is unquestionably one of the best baseball players ever to grace this planet.
His 3,089 hits compiled throughout his career ranks as 25th on Major League Baseball's all-time list. He was a 10-time All-Star and a 10-time Gold Glove winner through his 19-year career. He won the league's MVP as a rookie and is one of two players in MLB history to do so.
And he did all that after starting his MLB career at 27 years old, guys. He'd already compiled 1,278 hits as a pro in Japan.
Yet, somehow, this dude isn't a unanimous first-ballot Hall of Famer. That's unfathomable to me.
FANS ARE LIVID: We're all upset after finding out Ichiro was just one vote short of being a unanimous first-ballot HOFer
Ultimately, I guess it doesn't really matter. Ichiro is a Hall of Famer and we should all be good with that. That's the point of all of this.
But that's not enough. Considering his contributions to the game, this man should be living with Mariano Rivera unanimously. Period. The fact that he's not speaks to how incredibly silly the Baseball Hall of Fame voting process is in the first place.
The fact that Mariano Rivera is the only unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame is ridiculous. He deserves it, obviously. But, like Ichiro, plenty of others do, too. But one voter out of the 393 Baseball Writers Association of America decided he didn't deserve it today.
The part that makes this all the more infuriating is that we'll likely never know who this is thanks to the BBWAA.
Members of the association voted in 2016 to make the ballots public, but the BBWAA's board of directors rejected the proposal. That's cowardice if you ask me. But, hey. What do I know? Instead, in a total cop-out, the association allowed voters to make their ballots public if they choose to do so.
Some do it. Some don't. We almost certainly won't get one here.
Whoever left Ichiro deserves all of the ire coming their way, but they'll never get it. It's just like the lone voter who left Derek Jeter off of their ballot five years ago. We still don't know who did that and that's Derek freakin' Jeter, guys. If we're not finding out who did it for him, then we're certainly not finding out for Ichiro.
But, to whoever did this, make no mistake about it. You are unserious. Please take your job more seriously moving forward.
Jimmy Butler is making it awkward
This Jimmy Butler business in Miami hasn't gone as far as it possibly can yet, but the Heat star is pushing the envelope as hard as he can before things go too far.
It's no secret that he wants to be traded. In the meantime, until he gets what he wants, he's constantly sewing seeds of chaos on and off the court.
That includes wearing sneakers that have the colors of the team he actually wants to play for.
Those are Phoenix Suns colors, folks. He also has Suns colored hair, too. This dude, man.
Look on the bright side, Heat fans. He hasn't sabotaged practice! Well, at least, not yet, anyway.
The Bears got their guy
A handful of awfully timed failed trick-plays in the most crucial moments of the Lions season couldn't keep the Bears away from Ben Johnson.
Chicago hired the former Lions' OC to be their head coach. Our resident Bears enthusiast, Robert Zeglinski, has more on why Johnson chose Chicago.
The answer is obvious:
"It’s all thanks to Caleb Williams, a quarterback Johnson couldn’t resist attaching himself to for the foreseeable future. An uber-talented player who made joining one of the NFL’s premier laughingstocks so enticing in itself. A poised leader whose locker Johnson literally had his kids pose in front of for a photo during his initial tour at Bears headquarters."
Johnson's offensive genius, alone, won't be enough to get Chicago out of the rut it's currently in. But this is certainly a fantastic start to revamping a franchise that hasn't tasted anything close to success in years.
Can't wait to see how this unfurls.
Quick hits: The rest of the HOF ... Landing spots for Britney Griner ... and more
— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky with more on CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, who are also joining Ichiro in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!
— Meg Hall has five potential landing spots for Britney Griner as she enters free agency.
— Travis Kelce's ex has some nice things to say about him. Here's Charles Curtis with more.
— Dan Hurley, please! Kids are watching, my guy.
— Oilers fans protesting Connor McDavid's suspension are losing the plot, Mary Clarke writes.
— Only Christian D'Andrea could write this profoundly about this kid and his Paul Skenes rookie card worth millions. What a dilemma.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
This article originally appeared on For The Win: The lone voter who left Ichiro off their Hall of Fame ballot needs to reveal themselves
