With 52 returning Hall of Famers on hand, Suzuki paid homage to his new baseball home in Cooperstown and his adoring fans by delivering his 18-minute speech in English. His humor, a surprise to many, delighted the crowd. He threw shade at the Miami Marlins, the last stop of his professional career.

Dave Parker, who died a month before he was to be inducted, and Dick Allen got into the Hall posthumously after being voted in by the classics committee.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - On an overcast Sunday in this charming village, thousands of fans from the Far East to the East Coast, from Texas to the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest, gathered to usher five icons of the game into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.