Three new members will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025, as Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner were elected into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown on Tuesday.
Each candidate received at least the 75% needed from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) vote.
Despite debuting at the age of 27 in 2001 after making the jump from Japan, Ichiro established himself as one of the greatest pure hitters the game has ever seen with the Seattle Mariners. He batted .311 with 3,089 hits, including an MLB-record 262 in 2004.
A 10-time All-Star, Ichiro also won 10 Gold Gloves as one of the game’s premier defensive right fielders with a rocket arm only rivaled by Vladimir Guerrero during his time.
Ichiro led the league in hits seven times and joined MLB’s hit king, Pete Rose, as the only player in league history to record 10 seasons of 200 or more hits.
Rose amassed 4,256 hits in 24 seasons. Over Ichiro’s 28 professional seasons between Japan and the majors, he totaled 4,367 hits.
Ichiro spent 13-plus seasons with the Mariners from 2001-2012 before getting traded to the Yankees mid-season. He played parts of three seasons in the Bronx before signing with the Miami Marlins, where he spent three years from ages 41-43. He returned to Seattle for 17 games over two seasons before retiring in 2019. He has now become the first player ever born in Japan to make the Hall of Fame.
While Ichiro had a cup of coffee with the Yankees, another first-year candidate in Sabathia built his Hall-of-Fame resume in Pinstripes after signing with the team following one of the most dominant half-season trade-deadline rentals ever seen with the Milwaukee Brewers.
The southpaw spent his first six seasons in the majors with Cleveland, including a Cy Young Award in 2007, before getting dealt to Milwaukee, a franchise in the 26th year of a postseason drought in 2008. Sabathia went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA across 17 starts as the Brewers broke the snide.
He signed with the Yankees in 2009 and was the ace of the franchise’s last World Series winner. That year, he went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA, followed by 21 wins and a 3.18 ERA in 2010.
In 11 seasons with the Yankees, Sabathia went 134-88 with a 3.18 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts, which ranks fourth in franchise history. It provided the bulk of his 3,093 career strikeouts, which ranks third all-time amongst left-handed pitchers. Only 19 men have recorded 3,000 or more career strikeouts.
Sabathia, who will likely wear a Yankees cap to Cooperstown, was a six-time All-Star, led the American League in wins twice, and won 251 total games with a 3.74 ERA.
On the opposite end of the waiting spectrum, Wagner snuck into the Hall of Fame in his 10th and final year of eligibility.
Another southpaw, Wagner amassed 422 career saves, which ranks No. 2 all-time amongst lefty closers. His career WHIP of 0.998 is the lowest among all retired relievers with at least 700 innings pitched, while his 2.31 career ERA is the lowest among retired lefties with at least 500 innings pitched in the live ball era.
Wagner was a seven-time All-Star who racked up 1,196 strikeouts in 903 innings pitched. At the time of his retirement following the 2010 season, his 14.95 strikeouts per nine innings rate in 1999 was a league record, which since has been surpassed.
After nine years with the Houston Astros and four with the Philadelphia Phillies, Wagner joined the Mets in 2006. He racked up 40 saves that year, providing a reliable closer for a team that advanced to the NLCS.
He racked up 101 saves with the Mets, which ranks sixth in franchise history.
