CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner Elected to Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN—Ichiro Suzuki, a veritable hits machine on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, became the first Japanese player to gain entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame when he was elected on Tuesday, January 21 to the Class of 2025 alongside pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and tabulated by Ernst & Young.

Ichiro, who was on the ballot for the first time, came within one vote of being a unanimous selection, a feat achieved by only one player, relief pitcher Mariano Rivera in 2019, in 81 years of voting by the BBWAA. Ichiro, a multiple Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder, received 393 votes, which accounted for 99.746 percent of the electorate, second only to shortstop Derek Jeter’s 99.748-percent showing (396 of 397 ballots cast) in 2020 as the highest plurality for a position player in Hall of Fame voting.

Sabathia, another first-time honoree, received 342 votes (86.8 percent), and Wagner, who was on the BBWAA ballot for the 10th-and-final time, got 325 (82.5).

They will be honored during Induction Weekend 2025 July 25-28 in Cooperstown, at the July 27 Induction Ceremony on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center along with Dave Parker and the late Dick Allen, who were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee last month in Dallas.

Also honored that weekend will be the Ford C. Frick Award winner for baseball broadcasting, Tom Hamilton, and the BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner for baseball writing, Thomas Boswell, July 26 at the Awards Presentation.