
Ichiro, Sabathia, Wagner elected to Hall of Fame

22/01/2025 01:28
Three players were voted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA for the Class of 2025, including a 2009 Yankees hero.
The Baseball Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2025, and Cooperstown will have three new plaques to hang on its walls. Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner will all take their place in baseball immortality, each player finishing above the 75-percent threshold needed from the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, as revealed Tuesday night. Ichiro and Sabathia are inducted as first-ballot Hall of Famers while Wagner got in on his 10th and final year on the ballot after a few agonizingly near misses.
As we approached the 6pm ET announcement of the final tally, Ichiro and Sabathia were virtual locks for induction based on the ballots that were shared with the public, Ichiro polling at 100 percent and Sabathia at 92.5 percent. Wagner came right down to the wire polling at 85.4 percent, but ultimately was included on enough private ballots to sneak in ahead of the threshold.
Ichiro becomes the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Like his former teammate Derek Jeter, he fell just one vote shy of unanimous induction at 99.7 percent, meaning Mariano Rivera is still the only unanimous inductee (receiving 100 percent of the vote in 2019). Ichiro is the all-time hit king in professional baseball history, with 4,367 base knocks between NPB and MLB.
In a 28-year career with the Orix BlueWave, Mariners, Yankees, and Marlins, Ichiro was a 10-time consecutive All-Star and Gold Glover to begin his career stateside. He became just the second player in history to win AL MVP and Rookie of the Year in his debut season and holds the record for the most hits in a season (262) and most consecutive seasons with at least 200 hits (10).
CC Sabathia was one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation, winning the 2007 AL Cy Young Award with Cleveland and almost single-handedly dragging the Brewers to their first postseason appearance in 26 years following a midseason trade in 2008. A six-time All-Star and 2009 World Series winner and ALCS MVP, Sabathia is one of just 15 pitchers in history with at least 3,000 strikeouts and 250 wins, his 251 wins tied with Bob Gibson for the second-most by a Black pitcher behind Ferguson Jenkins. He was named on 86.8 percent of all BBWAA ballots.
CC Sabathia getting the Hall of Fame call
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social)2025-01-21T23:49:43.544Z
Reliever Billy Wagner finally earned induction to Cooperstown in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He famously broke his natural right arm twice as a child and so learned to throw left-handed, routinely touching triple digits at his peak. The flamethrowing southpaw played 16 seasons for the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, and Braves and is eighth on the all-time saves list at 422. He finished his career with a 2.31 ERA (187 ERA+) and 1,196 strikeouts in 903 frames, notching a 33.2-percent strikeout rate (11.9 K/9) that rates highest in MLB history among 900-inning pitchers. After missing out on induction by just five votes in 2024, Wagner's induction at 82.5 percent is affirmation of his status as one of the best closers in the history of the game.
Narrowly missing out on induction were two of the best center fielders of their generation in Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones. Beltrán fell 19 votes shy of the 296 needed for election while Jones earned just under two-thirds of the vote. Beltrán's 70.3-percent vote share represents quite a jump from the mark of 57.1-percent in 2024, so despite initial reticence over his involvement in the Astros sign stealing scandal, he is well on track for induction in one of the next few cycles. Jones' vote share bumped from 61.6-percent to 66.1-percent, but with just two more years on the ballot, it could be a photo finish.
There were seven other former Yankees on the ballot — Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Troy Tulowitzki, and Curtis Granderson — but none got close to the 75 percent required for induction.
A-Rod and Manny Ramirez have seen their vote share stagnate in the mid-30s in each of the last two cycles and do not figure to improve on those marks due to their PED ties. Pettitte saw his tally more than double from 13.5 percent to 27.9 percent but faces an impossible mountain to climb with just three more years on the ballot.
A trio of former Phillies in Abreu, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins all saw bumps in their vote tallies, Utley experiencing the biggest jump to almost 40-percent — a promising sign for the second baseman in just his second year on the ballot. Ballot first-timers Félix Hernández and Dustin Pedroia each earned enough votes to remain on the ballot. Torii Hunter saw his tally decline but managed to avoid falling off the ballot by just one vote; former Mets great David Wright also only stayed alive by just a bit at 8.1 percent.
Otherwise, all of the remaining first-timers on the ballot did not receive enough votes for future consideration. This group of 10 includes Martin, McCann, Tulowitzki, Granderson, Ian Kinsler, Adam Jones, Carlos González, Hanley Ramírez, Fernando Rodney, and Ben Zobrist, and their only chance for induction now lies in the hands of the Eras/Veterans Committees. Particular sympathy should be paid to Ramírez, Rodney, and Zobrist, none of whom received a single vote.
2025 BBWAA Hall of Fame voting: Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner electedhttps://t.co/4n2elq5KFmpic.twitter.com/BF0x4nIhCl
— BBWAA (@officialBBWAA) January 21, 2025
The players voted in today will be inducted in a special ceremony held in Cooperstown on Sunday, July 27th. Given that Wagner was the only player in his 10th year on the ballot, all players who missed out on election and garnered over five percent of the vote will appear on next year's ballot, where they will be joined by newcomers including Cole Hamels and Edwin Encarnación.
Congratulations to Ichiro, CC, and Wagner!