Ichiro will go into the Hall of Fame as professional baseball’s all-time leader in hits with 4,367 (3,089 in MLB and 1,278 in Japan) — more even than Pete Rose's 4,256. He broke George Sisler’s single-season hits mark of 257 in 2004. The new mark is 262.

Ichiro Suzuki, whose uncanny hitting talent made him a Seattle Mariners icon after he'd established himself as a star in Japan, became the first Japanese player elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

Ichiro gave hint of great things to come as a rookie, when he hit .350, collected 242 hits, and stole 56 bases. The 10-time All-Star was MVP of the 2007 game in San Francisco, when he hit the only inside-the-park home run in the history of the Midsummer Classic.