Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player to gain entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame when he was elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America as part of the 2025 class alongside CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Ichiro, who was on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, came within one vote of being a unanimous selection, a feat achieved by only one player, 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% of the electorate, second only to Derek Jeter’s 99.748% 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%), and Wagner, who was on the BBWAA ballot for the 10th-and-final time, garnered 325 (82.5%).
Ichiro burst onto the Major League scene in 2001 with the Seattle Mariners as the first position player from Japan and went on to win both the American League MVP and Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards in the same season, a feat accomplished by only one other player, Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox in 1975.
Over a 19-season career that included time with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, Ichiro tallied 3,089 hits and became the first player with 10 consecutive seasons of 200-plus hits, including a record 262 in 2004, a year in which he won his second batting title at .372.
Ichiro’s first came in his rookie year when he hit .350 with 242 hits and 56 of his career 509 stolen bases.
Among other hardware Ichiro collected were 10 straight Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards and 10 All-Star Game selections, including nine starts. He was the All-Star Game MVP in 2007 at San Francisco.
Ichiro led the AL in games played four times, at-bats eight times, hits seven times, singles 10 times and intentional walks three times.
Defensively, he led AL right fielders in putouts seven times, fielding percentage four times and once as a center fielder and assists twice as a right fielder.
Including his totals with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan’s Pacific League, Ichiro amassed 4,367 career hits over 28 seasons.
Sabathia began his 19-season career with the Cleveland Indians as the runner-up to Ichiro for the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2001 and went on to post a 251-161 record with a 3.74 earned run average and 3,093 strikeouts – 18th all-time and third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton.
Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award in 2007. A year later, a midseason trade to Milwaukee resulted in his finishing sixth in National League MVP voting after going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and seven complete games, including three shutouts, in 17 starts for the Brewers.
The next year, Sabathia anchored the Yankees’ staff en route to a World Series title and was the 2009 AL Championship Series MVP (2-0, 1.13 ERA). Sabathia is one of only six pitchers in history with at least 250 victories, a .600 winning percentage and 3,000 strikeouts.
Wagner pitched 16 seasons with the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, going 47-40 record with 422 saves, the eighth-highest career total in history and the second highest among left-handers and just two saves behind John Franco.
Wagner’s 2.31 career ERA is the lowest among retired left-handed pitchers with at least 500 innings in the live-ball era (since 1920). Wagner’s career walks-plus-hits-per-innings-pitched ratio (WHIP) of 0.998 is lowest among all retired relievers with at least 700 innings pitched.
The only other players to gain mention on more than half the ballots were Carlos Beltrán with 277 votes (70.3%) and Andruw Jones with 261 (66.2%).
2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony details
Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner will be honored during Induction Weekend 2025, which is from July 25-28, in Cooperstown, N.Y. The formal Induction Ceremony takes place on July 27 on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center, and will include 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.
MLB Hall of Fame voting process
Candidates may remain on the BBWAA ballot for up to 10 years provided they are listed on at least 5% of ballots cast. There are 15 players from the 2025 Hall of Fame ballot who will be eligible again for 2026, including two of the 14 first-year candidates: Félix Hernández with 81 votes (20.6%) and Dustin Pedroia with 47 (11.9%).
The Hall of Fame has 351 elected members, including 278 players, of whom 142 have come through the BBWAA ballot. The elections of Ichiro and Sabathia bring to 62 the total of players elected in their first year of eligibility by the BBWAA.
This year marked the 11th time the BBWAA honored three players in an election and the second year in a row.
Players are elected to the Hall provided they are named on at least 75% of ballots cast by eligible voting members of the BBWAA. With 394 ballots submitted in the 2025 election, candidates needed to receive 296 votes to be elected.
The average Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in the 2025 election contained 6.77 names, down from 7.00 last year, with 24.9% of the voters using all 10 slots, up from 24.4 a year ago. The total of ballots cast marked a 98.5% return rate of the 400 ballots mailed to voters. There were no blank ballots submitted.
Complete 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame results
Ichiro Suzuki – 393 (99.7%)
CC Sabathia – 342 (86.8)
Billy Wagner – 325 (82.5)
Carlos Beltrán – 277 (70.3)
Andruw Jones – 261 (66.2)
Chase Utley – 157 (39.8)
Álex Rodríguez – 146 (37.1)
Manny Ramírez – 135 (34.3)
Andy Pettitte – 110 (27.9)
Félix Hernández – 81 (20.6)
Bobby Abreu – 77 (19.5)
Jimmy Rollins – 71 (18.0)
Omar Vizquel – 70 (17.8)
Dustin Pedroia – 47 (11.9)
Mark Buehrle – 45 (11.4)
Francisco Rodríguez – 40 (10.2)
David Wright – 32 (8.1)
Torii Hunter – 20 (5.1)
Ian Kinsler – 10 (2.5)
Russell Martin – 9 (2.3)
Brian McCann – 7 (1.8)
Troy Tulowitzki – 4 (1.0)
Curtis Granderson – 3 (0.8)
Adam Jones – 3 (0.8)
Carlos González – 2 (0.5)
Hanley Ramírez – 0
Fernando Rodney – 0
Ben Zobrist – 0
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