The Hall of Fame has announced the results of this year’s Baseball Writers Association of America voting. Ichiro, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner The induction threshold of 75% was exceeded. they will join dick allen and Dave Parker in the class of 2025. Allen and Parker were selected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee at the winter meetings. Ichiro received 99.7% of the vote, just one vote short of unanimous approval.
Two of the three inductees, Ichiro and Sabathia, attended Cooperstown in their first year. Wagner got his tenth and final chance. He trailed by just one percentage point last winter, but his share of the vote jumped to more than 82 percent when writers gave him a last chance to elect him.
Ichiro excelled in his home country before moving to the major leagues in the 2000-01 offseason. He signed a three-year contract with the Mariners and immediately became one of the best players in franchise history. Ichiro led the league with 242 hits and 56 stolen bases. He topped the Seattle lineup with a .350 batting average and won the American League batting title. The ’01 Mariners won 116 games and remain the greatest regular season team in MLB history. They lost to the Yankees in five games in the Championship Series.
That was one of the best debut seasons ever. Ichiro was an All-Star and won the Silver Slugger Award and the Gold Glove Award in right field. Not only did he easily win the Rookie of the Year award, he also narrowly surpassed Jason Giambi Win MVP. he joined Fred Lynn The only rookie to be named Most Valuable Player.
While that was the only time Ichiro finished in the top five in MVP voting, he was the best pure hitter in the game in a decade. In each of his first 10 seasons, he had over 200 hits and an average over .300. Arguably his best year was 2004, when he led the majors with a .372 average and had a career-high 262 hits. Ichiro was a base threat in his prime, having stolen over 30 bases 10 times. He was also the best defensive right fielder in the game, had great range and a great arm, and twice led the AL in outfield assists.
Ichiro was a very durable player, appearing in 150 games over 13 seasons. He led the major leagues in hits seven times and was selected to the All-Star Game each of the first 10 years of his career. Ichiro is still a great player in his age-36 season. He played until he was 45 and saw games with the Yankees and Marlins. Ichiro notched his 3,000th career hit while playing for Miami, finishing in style with a triple against Colorado Chris Russin at Coors Field. Ichiro returned to Seattle to finish his career and kick off the 2019 season with a two-game series between the Mariners and Athletics in front of Japanese fans at the Tokyo Dome.
Ichiro finished his major league career with a .311 batting average and 3,089 hits. That’s an impressive accomplishment for any player, but it’s especially impressive for a player who spent several prime-age seasons in the NPB and didn’t make his major league debut until he was 27. Never a huge power threat in the game, though many believed he could become an impact bat if he prioritized impact over pure hitting ability at an elite level. Regardless, he hit 117 career home runs and stole over 500 bases. He won 10 Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards.
Sabathia was a first-round pick of the Indians in 1998. He won 17 games in his rookie season and finished runner-up to Ichiro in the 2001 Rookie of the Year voting. The southpaw was a durable mid-rotation arm during the first few seasons of his career in Cleveland. He was selected to the All-Star team in 2003 and 2004.
While Sabathia is on track for a major league career, he doesn’t look like a future Hall of Famer. This changed in the second half of the 2000s. In 2006, Sabathia had a 3.22 ERA in 28 starts. Sabathia led the league with 241 innings in 34 games in ’07. He topped 200 strikeouts for the first time, had a 3.21 ERA and won 19 games. He made his third All-Star appearance and won the Cy Young Award. He helped the Indians reach the postseason for the first time in six years, although he struggled in two starts in the American League as the Indians were eliminated by the Red Sox.
In 2008, Cleveland did not make the playoffs. They traded him to the Brewers just weeks before the prospect deadline, courtesy of Matt LaPorta. Although LaPorta was unsuccessful, this obscure acquisition Michael Brantley Being the “smaller” part of the deal had a huge impact on Cleveland baseball.
Sabathia’s time in Milwaukee was short, but it couldn’t have gone any better. The lefty’s second-half performance was legendary, winning 11 games with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts. Sabathia did an outstanding job making seven of those starts and recording three shutouts. He more or less led Milwaukee to a 90-win season and a wild-card berth, although they were eliminated in the Division Series by the eventual champion Phillies. Sabathia pitched a career-high 253 innings that year with 251 strikeouts, averaging a 2.70 ERA. Although he spent half the season in the American League, he finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting.
The following offseason, Sabathia signed a massive seven-year, $161MM contract with the Yankees. He pitched 230 innings with a 3.37 ERA and won an MLB-best 19 games in his first season. He went on to win the ALCS MVP award with a 1.98 ERA in five postseason starts while helping the Yankees win their 27th World Series title. Sabathia won 21 and 19 games over the next two years, posting 230 innings with a 3.00 ERA in both starts. He finished in the top four in Cy Young voting in each of his first three seasons in pinstripes.
He was last selected to the All-Star team in 2012 and last reached 200 innings in 2013. After his first free-agent contract expired, Sabathia remained in the Bronx on a series of short-term deals. He was a capable backfield starter until his retirement in 2019. He had a 3.74 ERA, won 251 games, and had over 3,000 strikeouts. He punched 3,093 times, ranking 18th on the all-time list.
Wagner is the ninth reliever to receive a call-up from Cooperstown. He was drafted in the first round by the Astros in 1993 and spent most of his career in Houston. Wagner made his debut in ’95 and earned his first saves the following year. In ’97, he became Houston’s full-time closer, saving 23 games with a 2.85 ERA in 66 1/3 innings.
The good-pitching lefty posted his first 30-save game the following season. In 1999, he struck out 124 batters in 74 2/3 games and had a 1.57 ERA. He was named Major League Baseball’s best reliever that season.
He struggled in 2000 but excelled in three seasons to end his tenure with the Astros. From 2001-03, Wagner made at least 35 saves in 60 innings with an ERA of 2.73 or better. During this time, he was selected to two more All-Star games. Wagner arguably had his best year in ’03. He finished with 67 games, leading the majors, with a 1.78 ERA. Wagner struck out 105 batters — one of four seasons in his career in which he broke the hundred mark — while pitching a career-best 86 innings.
In the 2003-04 offseason, the Astros traded Wagner to Philadelphia. Although his first season with the Phillies was cut short by injury, he posted a 1.51 ERA with 38 saves in 77 2/3 innings in ’05. The following offseason, he signed a four-year free agent contract with the Mets. Wagner went on to become an All-Star twice more, accumulating a 2.37 ERA in three and a half seasons in Queens. He had a strong month in Boston after being traded in August 2009.
Wagner returned to free agency and signed a one-year deal with the Warriors. At age 38, he finished his career with a 1.43 ERA and 37 saves in 69 1/3 innings. golfer. He finished his career with a 2.31 ERA in 903 innings. Wagner recorded nearly 1,200 strikeouts and ranks eighth all-time with 422 saves. In his 16-season career, he struck out 33.2 percent of opposing batters.
Opponents of his Hall of Fame case point to his lack of postseason record. Wagner did struggle in October, allowing 13 runs in 11 2/3 postseason innings in seven seasons. This is a very small sample, though, and despite the volatility of most relievers, his regular season performance was very consistent. In all but one season, Wagner had an ERA below 3.00 and reached 30 saves nine times.
Carlos Beltran and andrew jones I found myself very close to the induction. Beltran received 70.3% of the vote in his third year of eligibility. That’s a significant jump from last year’s roughly 57 percent vote share, giving him a solid chance in next offseason’s election. Jones received 66.2% of the vote, up about 5 percentage points from last winter. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
No one else received a vote share of 40% or higher. Apart from Ichiro and Sabathia, the only first-time candidates to reach the 5% cutoff required to retain the vote are Felix Hernandez (20.6%) and Dustin Pedroia (11.9%). Wagner is the only one in his final year of eligibility. No returning candidate received less than 5% of the vote, so the only player to lose was the first-time candidate who received the lowest approval rating.
The biggest question with next year’s class is whether Beltran and (less likely) Jones will be drafted. Manny Ramirez will be entering his final year of eligibility and may abstain from the vote after receiving about 34% of the vote this year. Cole Hamels Leading the way among first-ballot players, the class may be smaller than this year’s inductees.
Complete voting details are available through BBWAA. Photo courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.
