The longtime Seattle Mariners ace is set to be at the forefront of the argument for a new generation of pitchers.

The Seattle Mariners will have another franchise great enshrined in baseball immortality when Ichiro Suzuki gets inducted ... the history of the franchise, Felix Hernandez, was also up for the ...

If that remains the case when the final results are released by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday, Ichiro will be the first Japanese-born player in the Hall of Fame and just the second player ever to be unanimously elected to Cooperstown.

SEATTLE – As I looked at my Baseball Hall of Fame ballot that included checkmarks on the boxes next to nine players’ names, I stared at the open box next to another name: Félix Hernández.

To this point, only famed Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has been elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously — not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, not Ken Griffey Jr. nor Derek Jeter, just Rivera. Could Suzuki be the second?

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball's Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected Tuesday along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Ichiro falls a vote short of being the second unanimous choice ever. CC makes it in his first year of eligibility, Wagner in his last. The recent ballot glut has cleared.

Tuesday is one of the holy days on the baseball calendar, the announcement of players voted into the Hall of Fame. The honor is extreme and well-earned, with just over 1% of all big leaguers making it to Cooperstown for what they did as players: 275 out of 23,370.

The Seattle Mariners will celebrate the retirement of Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki's No. 51 with five games of giveaways in August.

Ichiro Suzuki has made even more history. The all-time great hitter is heading to Cooperstown, with C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner joining him.

Ichiro, who spent parts of 14 years with the Mariners, will become the third player to wear an M's hat in Cooperstown!

The trio of stars, each of whom spent part of their career in New York, will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 27.