Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner are the 2025 inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Suzuki and Sabathia each made it in their first time on the ballot. Dave Parker and Dick Allen also were voted in via the Classical Era Committee. Each player surpassed the 75% threshold necessary to enter Cooperstown.
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
Ichiro, Sabathia, Wagner Elected to 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Class
Nearly Unanimous
Ichiro Suzuki fell one vote shy of unanimous selection. He played professional baseball in Japan before joining the Seattle Mariners in 2001. The right fielder burst onto the scene that year, collecting 242 hits and hitting for a .350 average. As a result, Ichiro won both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in his first year in the majors. He played in an average of 150 games for 13 seasons. By the time he retired at age 45, he had amassed 3,089 hits and a batting average of .311, with 10 Gold Glove Awards in a major league career that began at the age of 27.
The Late Bloomer
CC Sabathia is the workhorse that became an ace in a career that spanned three teams and 19 seasons. He won 19 games as a rookie with the then-Cleveland Indians. He won the Cy Young Award in 2007, winning 19 games and striking out 209 hitters over 241 innings pitched with an ERA of 3.21. After an impressive interlude in 2008 with the Milwaukee Brewers, his durability and dependability eventually led him to a World Series championship with the New York Yankees in 2009, the 27th ring in franchise history. By his retirement in 2019, Sabathia had over 251 wins, 3,093 strikeouts, and a 3.74 ERA.
The Lefty Flamethrower
Billy Wagner will be the ninth full-time reliever enshrined in Cooperstown. Wagner spent the majority of his playing time with the Houston Astros. He struck out over 33% of the batters he faced in a 16-year career. Wagner also sported an ERA below 3.00 in 15 of 16 seasons, with 422 saves. In addition, the left-hander had over 100 strikeouts in four of those years. His career ERA was an impressive 2.31, and he had over 30 saves in nine seasons.
Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner all displayed excellence on the baseball field that will now be permanently enshrined in Cooperstown, never to be forgotten.
Photo Credit: © Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
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