Once more, for baseball immortality, Billy Wagner closed it out. Wagner, the dominant closer who played a two-season sliver of his 16-year career with the Phillies, got elected Tuesday night to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 10th and final year on the ballot.
These three players, along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, who were chosen by the most recent Era Committee, will be inducted in Cooperstown this coming summer. The necessary first step, though, is clearing that 75% threshold for election and then getting the official call from the Hall.
Six-time MLB All-Star CC Sabathia is anxiously awaiting what could be the crowning achievement of his storied 19-year career on Monday. Hours before
CC Sabathia’s career ended abruptly. Yes, the longtime Yankees left-hander had announced months earlier his plans to retire after the 2019 season, but his final appearance did not go as ceremoniously as Derek Jeter’s or Mariano Rivera’s.
Sabathia, the 19-year Major League Baseball veteran who for three months in 2008 carried the Milwaukee Brewers to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years on his left shoulder, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with a vote of 86.6% Tuesday night on his first time on the ballot.
Ichiro Suzuki had already cemented a strong, and likely everlasting baseball card market long before Tuesday’s almost unanimous vote for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, headlining the class of 2025.
Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner reached the necessary 75% support on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot revealed Tuesday. Complete results.
The trio of stars, each of whom spent part of their career in New York, will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 27.
While Sabathia was a runaway choice in the Hall of Fame election, selected on 86.8% of the ballots by the Baseball Writers' Association of America – joining peers Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner – this ultimate honor meant much, much more than just a museum plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The complete story of how the Brewers landed big left-hander CC Sabathia in July 2008, setting the stage for a once-in-a-generation run.
The guy who finished first was a 27-year-old import from Japan named Ichiro Suzuki. On Tuesday night, Ichiro and Sabathia entered the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on the first ballot. Ichiro received 99.7% of the vote, missing a unanimous selection by one vote. Sabathia was elected by 86.8% of the vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America.