Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner humbled by Hall of Fame election

A trio of the National Pastime’s best from the past three decades – right fielder Ichiro Suzuki and a pair of southpaw hurlers in starter CC Sabathia and closer Billy Wagner – are now a part of the baseball’s greatest roster.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame’s legendary lineup increased by three when the results of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot was announced on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

The newest electees were announced by Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch to a national audience.

“And with that,” said Rawitch, after reading off the names of the new electees along with many of their career highlights, “Cooperstown welcomes three new members to the Hall of Fame.”

CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner earn baseball immortality and join Dick Allen and Dave Parker in the Class of 2025.

Full vote totals: https://t.co/6XLelqdrht pic.twitter.com/8iTPTjD70A

— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) January 21, 2025

The Class of 2025 – which also includes Dave Parker and the late Dick Allen via the Classic Baseball Era Committee vote in December – will be inducted on Sunday, July 27, at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown as part of the 2025 Induction Weekend July 25-28.

Only hours after received the much-anticipated phone call informing them that they had joined baseball immortality, the Hall of Fame’s newest electees took part in individual media conference calls.

With candidates needing to appear on at least 75 percent of all ballots cast to earn election, Suzuki, in his first year on the BBWAA ballot, received 99.7 percent of the 394 ballots cast. One vote from being a unanimous selection, the first Japanese-born player to be enshrined at the Hall of Fame joins longtime Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter in that unique distinction. Relief ace Mariano Rivera remains the only player to receive every vote.

“As a baseball player, this is the highest honor that you can achieve. And so, as a baseball player, yeah, this is definitely the top of the top,” said Suzuki through an interpreter. “For me, that’s as an MLB player, but as a baseball player or a person that plays baseball, I’m going to find a different path and have different goals and different ways that I need to go in a different direction. But regarding becoming a professional baseball player, this is definitely the highest top honor.”

Suzuki, 51, burst on the major league scene in 2001 with the Seattle Mariners as the first MLB position player from Japan and went on to win both the American League MVP and Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards in the same season, a feat accomplished by only one other player, Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox in 1975. Over a 19-season career that included time with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, Suzuki knocked out 3,089 hits in becoming the first player with 10 consecutive seasons of 200-plus hits, including a record 262 in 2004, a year in which he won his second batting title at .372. His first came in his rookie year when he hit .350 with 242 hits and 56 of his career 509 stolen bases.

“I was told that there could be a call from this time to this time, and when that time came and it passed 15 minutes, I actually started kind of getting nervous,” is how Suzuki explained his emotions on receiving his life-changing telephone call. “So I was actually relieved when I first got the call.

“I’ve been to the Hall of Fame seven times and every time I go I feel so good. It’s like an at-home feeling. And so I always felt like guys should go to the Hall of Fame as an active player. That’s how I felt. I haven’t been back since I have retired, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing that new experience as a retired player and see what kind of feelings come when I do go.”

Suzuki also collected 10 straight Gold Glove Awards for fielding, three Silver Slugger Awards for batting and 10 All-Star Game selections, including nine starts. He was the All-Star Game MVP in 2007. Including his totals with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan’s Pacific League, Ichiro amassed 4,367 career hits over 28 seasons.

Sabathia, 44, also in his first year on the BBWAA ballot, received a voting percentage of 86.8.

“I had a chance to go to Cooperstown when my son was 12 taking his baseball team up there and playing in a tournament. And the first time I walked in the plaque room I almost cried. I had no idea,” Sabathia said. “And I think current players should go to the Hall of Fame.

“It’s so inspiring watching that movie in the (Grandstand Theater). It’s something that I think every player should see, and I think every current player should see. It gives you that ‘north star’ to shoot for. It’s something to see and it’s something to play for.”

In a 19-year big league career, the first eight spent with Cleveland and the final 11 as a Yankee sandwiched around a partial season with the Brewers in 2008, Sabathia totaled 251 victories and 3,093 strikeouts, one of just three left-handers with at least 3,000 strikeouts. He’s also one of just six pitchers in history with at least 250 wins, a .600 winning percentage and 3,000 strikeouts.

A second-place finisher in the 2001 American League Rookie of the Year voting, behind Suzuki, Sabathia was a six-time All-Star and won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award after a 19-win season. As a member of Yankees 2009 World Series title team, he started Game 1 in all three postseason series.

Wagner, 53, in his 10th and final time on the BBWAA ballot, received a percentage of 82.5 of the votes.

“I felt like the clock stopped,” said Wagner when asked about receiving the call. “There was many, many times throughout this day that the emotions were running high and trying to keep myself busy. The blessing that I had was my family was here. The only people missing was my daughter and my oldest son. But I had a lot of good friends here.

“Try to keep busy and occupied throughout the day. Went out to lunch. But from about two o’clock to about 5:15 it got really slow, and it was very difficult to control things. But my family’s been huge for me my whole life. So this day is really a celebration for all of us that got through this process.”

A seven-time All-Star and one of the most dominating closers in Major League history, Wagner spent the first nine years of his standout 16-year MLB career with Houston, posting 225 saves and 694 strikeouts in 464 games. Selected by Houston in the first round of the 1993 draft, within four years he became the franchise’s closer. He finished fourth in the 1999 NL Cy Young Award race after setting an Astros single-season franchise record for saves in 1999 (39 saves) before topping his own club-record mark in 2003 with 44 saves.

Overall, Wagner spent 16 seasons in the majors, where he also spent time with the Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Braves. Appearing in 853 contests without starting one, he recorded 422 career saves, second-highest among left-handed relievers and eighth overall. His career 2.31 ERA is lowest among retired left-handed pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched in the live ball era. A seven-time All-Star, the fireballer set a record (since surpassed) for highest single-season-strikeout-per-nine innings rate among relievers (14.95) in 1999.

This year’s BBWAA ballot featured 28 players, including 14 first-year candidates. Others who received votes on more than 50 percent of the ballots included Carlos Beltrán (70.3%) and Andruw Jones (66.2%).

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