The Japanese Baseball Hall Of Fame announced its 2025 inductees today, and, to no one's real surprise, Ichiro Suzuki was elected in his first year of eligibility. He is joined by three others - long time Dragons relief ace Hitoki Iwase (who, like Ichiro, was elected on the Player's Division ballot), Tigers slugger Masayuki Kakefu (on the Expert Division ballot after coming two votes short last year) and umpire Hiroya Tomizawa (who I believe went in on the Special Committee vote). It's always kind of surprised me that Kakefu wasn't already in the Hall Of Fame so I'm happy he's finally in.
Hitoki Iwase
 |
| 1999 BBM #311 |
 |
| 2007 BBM Nippon Series #504 |
 |
| 2019 BBM Retirement #01 |
Masayuki Kakefu
 |
| 1977 Yamakatsu JY4 |
 |
| 1984 Calbee #3 |
 |
| 2017 Epoch Tigers #02 (Variant 1) |
Ichiro
 |
| 1993 Takara BlueWave #51 |
 |
| 2000 BBM Diamond Heroes #F6 |
 |
| 2009 Konami Baseball Heroes WBC #W09R113 |
As usual, I've updated my spreadsheet listing all the Hall Of Famers in BBM flagship sets. 1994 remains the set with the most Hall Of Fame players although the number has now grown to 18. The set with the most Hall Of Famers overall (both players and managers) remains 1991 with 25 but it no longer stands alone - the 1994 and 1998 sets now also boast 25 Hall Of Famers each. Iwase's final season was 2018 which means that that is now the latest year that includes a Hall Of Fame player.
4 comments:
What would be interesting if Ichiro was inducted to Cooperstown the same day & he pulls off by giving his speech at both Hall of Fames
Hmm, he's going to have a busy week. The Japanese HOF inductions are always at the All Star games so either in Osaka on Wednesday, July 23rd or Yokohama on Thursday, July 24th. The US HOF induction ceremony is on Sunday, July 27th. Guess he'll fly to the US on July 24th or 25th and be somewhat jet lagged for Cooperstown on Sunday afternoon.
Congrats to the new Hall of Famers!
That 1993 Takara Ichiro is awesome! Still looking to track one down for my collection.
Post a Comment