Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025
JANUARY 21, 2025 — Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2025.
Suzuki received 99.7% of the votes cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America; Sabathia received 86.8% and Wagner received 82.5%. They will join Dave Parker and Dick Allen, elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee, to be honored during Induction Weekend on July 25-28 in Cooperstown, New York.
Suzuki was a superstar on two continents, beginning his career with an unprecedented seven consecutive batting titles and three MVP awards in his native Japan before becoming the first position player to make the switch from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball in 2001. He immediately made an impact by winning the American League MVP and Rookie of the Year awards with the Seattle Mariners. In his first 10 seasons with Seattle, he reached the 200-hit milestone each year, including a record-setting 262 hits in 2004, and won 10 Gold Glove Awards in right field. Despite starting his MLB career at age 27, he finished with 3,089 hits and 509 stolen bases. Click here to read his SABR biography by Douglas Jordan.
Sabathia won 251 games and struck out 3,093 batters over 19 seasons with the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Milwaukee Brewers. He made his debut with Cleveland in 2001 and won the 2007 American League Cy Young Award. With the New York Yankees, he was named AL Championship Series MVP and won a World Series title in 2009. In between, he spent a memorable half-season with the Brewers, helping to end their long playoff drought with a series of clutch performances on three days’ rest.
Wagner was one of the most dominant closers in the game for 15 seasons, recording 422 saves with the Houston Astros, New York Mets, and three other teams. He was a seven-time All-Star and 1999 Rolaids Relief Man of the Year, appearing in 853 games with a 2.31 ERA and 1,196 strikeouts. Click here to read his SABR biography by Leslie Heaphy.
To find more SABR biographies of Hall of Fame inductees, click here.
Originally published: January 21, 2025. Last Updated: January 21, 2025.