[John1941]

Ichiro was an incredible player and richly deserved to be a Hall of Famer - but I really don't understand why every famous & qualified player is supposed to be elected unanimously. Ichiro and Jeter have both fallen just one vote short recently - why were they even close to being unanimously elected? They were both incredible players and richly deserve to be Hall of Famers, but they're not perfect - Jeter wasn't Honus at the plate and the defensive metrics hate him, and Ichiro didn't hit for power or walk (or get along with the media). (For context: I'm a Yankees fan & love Ichiro.)

Mariano being elected unanimously made at least some sense to me because he was almost the perfect closer. (I may be biased because I'm a big Mariano fan...) But if every great player is elected unanimously, then being elected unanimously will no longer mean anything. It will become routine & we'll be angry when our favorite isn't elected without a single dissent. That just doesn't seem healthy. Isn't being elected to the Hall of Fame enough?