Ichiro Suzuki had an outsized impact on baseball in Japan and the United States, and on Thursday, after he was announced as one of the four newest members in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, he subtly reminded us of what he has meant.
In Japan, Ichiro’s effort to be the ultimate player in the traditional Japanese style, restored a zest and unpredictability to pro baseball that a generation of big thinkers had gone a long way toward erasing.
When he came to the United States, Ichiro was a player like few remembered seeing, someone who lit up every game he played whether he was at bat, on the bases or in the field. He was a player who could dominate play with the same non-stop action that had made the game popular in America before anyone had ever heard of Babe Ruth.
In my limited experience with him, Ichiro has two kinds of press conferences, those he manages with pre-arranged questions for his prepared answers mean to display his skill with language and imagery, and those where he takes whatever questions he gets and is starkly honest and open with his answers. These latter ones are feasts.
While I cannot open the voting for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame players division ballot to the public, I am curious what you all think.
I would like all readers who haven’t already voted on Twitter or other social media platforms, to submit their seven votes in the comments so I can compile them and announce the readers’ choices. So please, each of you, name your magnificent seven…
Below are the candidates, and how they compare to existing players in the Hall of Fame in terms of Bill James’ Win Shares.
The three tables for position players, starting pitchers and relievers give their career win share totals, including a slight adjustment for win shares accumulated in MLB, the average of each player’s three most-valuable seasons, and the average win share value of each player’s best five-year span.
I’ve listed them separately, because win shares doesn’t seek to make the best pitchers equal to the best position players. For that reason, I compare the starting pitchers to existing hall of fame starting pitchers, and relievers to the trio of specialty relievers who are now enshrined in the museum’s long narrow hall.
22 position player candidates
Name R
Name J
Pos
Career
Best 3 years avg
5-year peak
Ichiro Suzuki
イチロー
RF
651.9
42.6
35.0
Kazuo Matsui
松井 稼頭央
SS
404.2
33.1
30.6
Shinnosuke Abe
阿部 慎之助
C
381.2
34.0
30.5
Tadahito Iguchi
井口 資仁
2B
351.2
29.5
25.1
Michihiro Ogasawara
小笠原 道大
3B
334.8
31.7
30.5
Tuffy Rhodes
ローズ
CF
319.9
33.8
25.8
Hiroki Kokubo
小久保 裕紀
3B
310.6
28.6
25.5
Nobuhiko Matsunaka
松中 信彦
1B
309.7
36.3
31.0
Atsunori Inaba
稲葉 篤紀
RF
302.2
31.0
27.3
Takuro Ishii
石井 忠徳
SS
298.9
26.8
24.1
Kenji Jojima
城島 健司
C
293.5
30.7
28.0
Takahiro Arai
新井 貴浩
3B
263.6
22.5
20.2
Yoshinobu Takahashi
高橋 由伸
RF
262.4
26.2
20.2
Tomonori Maeda
前田 智徳
LF
262.3
25.5
17.9
HOF Pos averages
286.4
28.0
24.6
Showing 1 to 14 of 22 entries
3 starting pitcher candidates
The “starting pitcher” averages are a little misleading because until the mid 1970s, there were three kinds of pitchers, top starters who also came on to relieve in high-leverage situations, starters who switched back and forth between starting and relieving, and a few pitchers who rarely started. The averages also do not include the quality pitchers who converted to other positions after their arms gave out. Their careers are averaged with the position players.
Name R
Name J
Career
Best 3 years
5-year peak
Koji Uehara
上原 浩治
234.3
21.9
15.1
Masumi Kuwata
桑田 真澄
191.0
24.2
19.6
Shinji Sasaoka
佐々岡 真司
171.7
18.9
14.4
HOF SP avg
230.2
27.5
21.8
Showing 1 to 3 of 3 entries
3 relief pitcher candidates
There are only three dedicated relief pitchers in the Hall of Fame, Kazuhiro Sasaki, who is head and shoulders above Shingo Takatsu, and Tsunemi Tsuda, who was as good as Takatsu, but whose career and life were cut short by cancer.
