Class of 2025 electees Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner soak in history at Hall of Fame

Two days after receiving the telephone call that brought them to Cooperstown, right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, starting pitcher CC Sabathia and closer Billy Wagner found themselves in an oak-walled Plaque Gallery surrounded by 346 bronze images.

The trio of stars, contemporaries who blossomed in the first decade of the 21st century, combined for 23 All-Star Game selections, 28 postseason series and a treasure trove of assorted hardware. They were at the game’s most hallowed ground, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, having been elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Jan. 21. And on Jan. 23, the Hall of Fame had their recent BBWAA electees gather for an in-person inductee media conference in the Grandstand Theater as well as an inductee orientation tour.

Inside the Museum’s Grandstand Theater, Jack O’Connell, the secretary-treasurer of the BBWAA, shared the press conference dais with the three newest electees, Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch and Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark.

“On a day like today, we are obviously reminded just how hard it is to get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame,” Rawitch said. “If you think about how many people, every kid that ever dreamed of playing baseball, there’s only been just over 23,000 that have actually gotten to play one day in the big leagues. And of that group, only 278, just over one percent, actually get a plaque in the gallery.

 “Gentlemen, you are now teammates on the greatest team ever assembled, alongside Dick Allen and Dave Parker, the Class of 2025.”

Prior to taking questions from the media, Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner donned the jersey and cap of their final team, the greatest team ever assembled, the Hall of Fame team.

Hall of Fame Weekend 2025 will be held July 25-28 in Cooperstown, with the Class of 2025 to be inducted on Sunday, July 27, on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center. Ford C. Frick Award winner Tom Hamilton and BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner Thomas Boswell will be honored during Induction Weekend at the Awards Presentation.

“Coming to the Hall of Fame as a player seven times, and this is my eighth time here in the Hall of Fame, what an honor it is for me to be here as a Hall of Famer,” said Ichiro through an interpreter. “This is just a very special, special moment. I was able to receive many votes from the writers. Grateful for them.”

Wagner, who was elected in his final time on the BBWAA ballot, fought back emotions on the press conference stage.

“Obviously, it’s a long time coming, but worth the wait,” Wagner said. “To the writers who helped me get to this point I’m very honored. And thank you a lot. I know getting here is a difficult situation, especially as a reliever, but to be in a situation with this group, I feel very humble and very blessed. So, you know, been a long time, but you know, it was worth it.”

Sabathia, 44, won 251 games and struck out 3,093 batters during a 19-year career with the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees. A six-time All-Star and the 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner, he led the AL in victories in back-to-back seasons in 2009 and 2010, winning 20 games in the latter season to join the prestigious fraternity of Black Aces.

 “It’s been a surreal past couple days,” Sabathia said. “But I’m excited to be here at the Hall of Fame. Excited to be able to call myself a Hall of Famer. It is really exciting.”

Ichiro, 51, was a 10-time major league All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner and a two-time American League batting champion, becoming the 30th member of the 3,000-hit club over 19 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. He came to Seattle in 2001 after winning seven Pacific League batting titles with the Orix Blue Wave of Nippon Professional Baseball, and immediately made a major impact. He took home Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors that year as the Mariners tied a major league record with 116 regular season wins. In 2004, he notched 262 hits, the most ever in a single season in AL or NL history. And he logged 200 or more hits in his first 10 seasons in America, while scoring 100 or more runs in eight straight seasons. A career .311 hitter, he’s one of just seven players in major league history with 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.

“It’s still so new to me. Just got the call and now I’m here. I’ve been so busy, so it’s been hard to process what this really means,” Ichiro said. “And I felt like maybe 5-10 years from now I can look back, maybe we’ll be able to say, ‘No, this is what it meant.’ This is something that I’m trying to process all at once, but I think I’m going to be able to do that once more time has passed, and I’ll be able to realize what kind of impact it had on me.”

Wagner, who turns 54 on the Friday of Hall of Fame Weekend, played 16 seasons for the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Braves, finishing his career with a sparkling 2.31 ERA and 422 saves, the eighth most all time. One of the game’s most dominating closers whose fastball regularly topped 100 miles an hour, he struck out one-third of the batters he faced in the big leagues, and his 1,196 career strikeouts stood for years as the most by a left handed reliever in major league history.

When asked at the press conference about his emotions when receiving the phone call informing him he’d been elected to the Hall of Fame, the 5-foot-10 southpaw from Division III Ferrum College in Virginia had an emotional reaction.

“It’s humbling,” he said after a pause. “It’s special to be the first in Division III, southwest Virginia, to be on a stage where you’re with greats is humbling. I don’t know if it’s deserving. To sit out 10 years and have your career scrutinized and stuff. The 10th year was to be expected, the toughest, but as I’m sitting here it was worth it. It’s never been easy for me to do anything, so to get in after 10 tries is a blessing. So, it’s really emotional.”

At the conclusion of the media availability, the three new BBWAA electees were taken to the Plaque Gallery – to where their plaques will be found after this summer’s induction – and signed the plaque backer.

While in Cooperstown, the trio also took part in a Hall of Fame orientation afforded all new electees, which included a guided tour of the Museum by Hall of Fame senior curator Tom Shieber.

“It’s always educational anytime you get a chance to walk through the Museum,” Sabathia said. “This was the third time I think I went to Museum, but the first time I’ve been on a curated tour. So just having a chance to walk through The Souls of the Game exhibit again, see some of the different jerseys, the Latin American exhibit (Viva Baseball) is awesome. Seeing some of the early gloves that the guys used or the catching masks. It’s pretty cool. It’s the history of the game. And to be able to be a part of that and be in this Museum forever is something that’s special.”

Wagner called the tour “humbling,” adding: “When you’re looking at the names as you go through and you just realize how much bigger the game really is and if you really, truly belong in this. And so going in and looking at the bats and the lockers and just the transition of the game and how each step of the way, it just made it so great to bring us to where we are today. It’s fascinating just to be part of the history of this. It just puts you into a really small space when you realize that you’re standing there with Mickey Mantles and Joe DiMaggios and Sandy Koufaxes.”

The trio of new Hall of Famers visited the second and third floors of the Museum to start their tours. Checking out a Babe Ruth bat, Sabathia commented that those were built to last – then laughed when he saw the Bambino’s Yankee Stadium locker and compared it to those used at Boston’s Fenway Park. In looking at artifacts from the Negro Leagues, Wagner said: “Our game wouldn’t be the same today without those very tough men.”

For Sabathia, admiring artifacts from the Oakland A’s, his favorite team growing up, brought smiles and stories: “I had this poster on my wall,” he said, referring to a Bash Brothers poster on display.

Upon approaching a Joe DiMaggio locker, Wagner commented: “You know you’re a good player when they write songs about you.” Seeing a Hank Aaron locker he added: “I can’t imagine the conversations had in there.”

While in the collections storage area, they were able to hold bats belonging to Willie Mays and Ruth, a Clayton Kershaw no-hitter ball and a 2006 World Baseball Classic helmet used by Ichiro.

“Barry Bonds told me,” Wagner said, “if Ichiro wanted to hit 500 home runs, he’d hit 500 home runs.”

Bill Francis is the senior research and writing specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum