NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- Former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki became the first Asian player to be inducted into the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, when the institution announced the results of its 2025 ballot.

Ichiro, widely known by his first name, was named on 99.7 percent of the ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, falling one vote short of being the hall's second unanimous selection after former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

A recently retired player needs to be included on 75 percent of the ballots to be voted into the hall.

Ichiro was inducted in his first year of eligibility.

He retired in 2019 at age 45 with 3,089 hits in Major League Baseball after becoming the first position player to arrive from Japan, where he had 1,278 hits.

Ichiro won the American League MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in his 2001 debut season with the Mariners after leading the AL with a .350 batting average and 56 stolen bases.

His second batting title came in 2004, when he hit .372 with 262 hits, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old single-season record of 257.

Ichiro finished with a .311 career average over 19 MLB seasons. He was also a Gold Glove winner every season from 2001 to 2010, when he logged 200-plus hits for an unprecedented 10 years in a row.

Ichiro was traded from the Mariners to the New York Yankees in July 2012. He also played for the Miami Marlins before spending the final two seasons of his career with the Mariners.