I'm a little late for this post as the Hall of Fame results were announced a few days ago, but better late than never. While I knew that Ichiro was a lock for the Hall, I still couldn't believe that he fell one vote short of a unanimous selection. Just sad that one writer felt that he couldn't vote for him on his first year of eligibility. Regardless, I'm glad that Ichiro will now be forever enshrined in Cooperstown. I spoke last month about a couple of projects that I started. The first being my Rookie book project and the second is tracking down all of Ichiro's Topps Flagship Short Prints (SPs, SSPs and an SSSP that I'll probably never own). My favorite of the bunch is this 2012 Topps Update of him bowing to the fans at his return to Seattle after signing with the Yankees. Such a great card and I'm glad to have it in my collection. I've always admired Ichiro for how he played the game. He was more interested in getting a hit than mashing a home run (similar to Pete Rose in my opinion without all the baggage). If you're interested in seeing the other short prints I've picked up you can
click here or select the Ichiro Topps Flagship Short Prints Image Variations link in the pages section. Once I grab the remaining three short prints that I need then I'll consider my Ichiro collection complete. I already have his Topps Flagship rookie and a 2007 Topps Chrome Japanese variation so I think that's a nice assortment. I might chase after a Topps Chrome Rookie but I'm still on the fence about that.
