You would think that celebrating legends of MLB would be a huge deal, right? Yet somehow, the Hall of Fame ceremony keeps flying under the radar. Sure, 25,000 fans attended eight of the past 10 induction ceremonies, but it should have surged. And it’s not like fans don’t care–maybe it’s because the league makes it difficult.

The Hall of Fame ceremony usually happens on a Sunday in July or early August. Sounds great, right? It’s a Sunday, so people can attend the ceremony without ruining their schedules or watch peacefully from home. Great! But wait till you realize that it’s scheduled right in the middle of the regular season.

So while the baseball royalty like Ichiro Suzuki, Dave Parker, Billy Wagner, CC Sabathia, Willa Allen, and Dick Allen were receiving Hall of Fame honors, the regular season games were all going on.

Also, mind you, this is a crucial mid-season game– this is about them making it to October. So this past weekend, amidst the HoF, everything else happened, from the New York Yankees falling behind to the Toronto Blue Jays, Aaron Judge being injured, and the Mariners saying they are serious about the trade deadline.

And now, we are on the verge of the July 31 trade deadline! That’s just another layer to the puzzle.

So, what do you think fans will choose? A high-stakes game or a quiet nostalgia-filled speech fest? And to make it even trickier is the fact that fans can technically attend both. But the Hall of Fame events and MLB games need separate tickets, and they occur in two different places.

Other leagues have it all figured out. NBA, for example, does its Hall of Fame honors during late summer after the regular NBA season, which runs from October to April. MLB, on the other hand, buries one of the most emotional weekends in the noise of 162 games.

So maybe fans are not tuning out because they stopped caring about legends. But maybe MLB needs to give history the spotlight it deserves. And talking of spotlights, while every inductee had eyes on them, Ichiro’s speech was something else.

Ichiro’s MLB Hall of Fame unanimous snub turns into a mic-drop moment

For baseball fans across the country, Ichiro Suzuki’s HoF induction is a long time coming. But for the players of Asian origin, it means so much more—it’s being visible, recognized, and getting validated at the biggest stage there is. Ichiro spent the bulk of his 19-year MLB career with the Mariners and now has made it to the Hall of Fame. But of course, it didn’t happen without drama.

So, back in January, when the Hall results dropped, outrage just erupted. How could anyone leave Ichiro out? An AL MVP, Rookie of the Year, 10-time Gold Glove winner, and owner of the single-season hits record, off from their ballot. Then, Ichiro had offered to buy the voter a drink, but now, he is stepping back. He used his induction speech to address one issue on a flawless honor he had—the single voter who kept him from a unanimous selection. He mentioned in his speech, “That invitation has expired.”

Mic drop moment!

While the ceremony itself might have been overshadowed by the regular games, Ichiro Suzuki still managed to hold the spotlight. In true Ichiro fashion, it was not about the stats or legacy but a message.

On Sunday, Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player in the Baseball Hall of Fame. For players like Steven Kwan, Ichiro’s moment is bigger than the TV ratings. As Kwan put it, “He was a player who looked like me… and succeeded at the highest level.”

Well, he might have missed receiving the unanimous votes, but he has won everyone over. “If I wasn’t able to produce, then they would judge Japan baseball as being at a lower level. And so that pressure was there and that’s what I had to carry,” Suzuki exclaimed once. Now, all we know that he not only produced, but paved the way for future Japanese players to absolutely rock it at the biggest stage of baseball.