QUINIX Sport News: 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame voting results: Ichiro Suzuki elected alongside CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner

The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class will include five players. Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner will join Dick Allen and Dave Parker in Cooperstown this summer, the BBWAA announced Tuesday night.

Suzuki, Sabathia and Wagner were all named on at least 75% of the ballots — the threshold needed to gain induction — from the qualified voters. 

Ichiro was elected with 99.7% of the vote, making him the first Japanese player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mariano Rivera, who was elected in 2019, remains the only unanimous inductee. Suzuki was one vote shy. The next-highest percentages previously belonged to Derek Jeter (99.7%), Ken Griffey Jr. (99.3), Tom Seaver (98.8) and Nolan Ryan (98.8). 

Like Suzuki, Sabathia was also a first-timer on this ballot and gets in with 86.8% of the vote. 

On the opposite end is Wagner, who was in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He was either going to fall off without making the Hall of Fame or get in. He makes it in with 82.5% of the vote.

Appreciating the singular Ichiro Suzuki, who fell a single vote shy of unanimous Hall of Fame induction

Dayn Perry

Allen, Parker, Suzuki, Sabathia and Wagner will be honored in a ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Sunday, July 27.

Players who receive at least 5% of the vote can remain on the ballot for up to 10 years while, again, those getting 75% make the Hall of Fame. Here are the full results from the BBWAA vote: 

Carlos Beltrán (who missed election by just 19 votes), Andruw Jones, Chase Utley, Alex Rodríguez, Manny Ramirez, Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, Felix Hernández, Jimmy Rollins, Omar Vizquel, Mark Buehrle, David Wright and Francisco Rodríguez will remain on the ballot moving to next year, joining first-timers like Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Alex Gordon.

For now, though, let’s focus on the newly elected Hall of Famers.

Ichiro Suzuki

Suzuki will be the headliner with his gaudy vote percentage. After spending nine seasons in Japan to start his professional career, during which he amassed 1,278 hits with a .353 batting average, he came to Major League Baseball. In 2001, his first season stateside, he won Rookie of the Year and MVP while helping the Mariners to an MLB-record 116 wins. In parts of 19 MLB seasons, he would rack up 10 All-Star Games, 10 Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, two batting titles, 3,089 hits, 1,420 runs, 509 stolen bases and 60 WAR. More than the numbers, he was a global sensation, helping bring new sets of eyeballs to Major League Baseball from around the world. 

He spent time with the Yankees and Marlins, but Suzuki will be headed to Cooperstown in a Mariners cap. 

CC Sabathia

Sabathia was an ace and workhorse for a good portion of his 19-year career. The six-time All-Star finished in the top five of Cy Young voting five times, winning the honor in 2007. He topped 200 innings eight times and won at least 19 games four times. He took ALCS MVP in 2009, also winning a World Series ring. In his career, Sabathia went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts in 3,577 ⅓ innings. He’ll very likely be wearing a Yankees cap, though his stint with Cleveland bears mention and his 17-start stint with the Milwaukee in 2008 was one of the greatest half-season offerings we’ve ever seen from a starting pitcher.

Billy Wagner

The 5-foot-10 Wagner ended up one of the greatest and most imposing closers in baseball history, long known for his menacing fastball. His 422 career saves rank eighth in MLB history. Where he dwarfs most other closers, though, was how dominant he was in  his 903 career innings. He ended up with a 2.31 ERA (187 ERA+) and 1.00 WHIP with 1,196 strikeouts (11.9 K/9). As a point of comparison, Trevor Hoffman — a contemporary of Wagner with a higher workload and a lot more saves who is already in the Hall of Fame — had a 2.87 ERA (141 ERA+), 1.06 WHIP and 9.4 K/9. The lowest innings total, previously, for a BBWAA-elected Hall of Fame reliever was 1,042 (Bruce Sutter). This is one of the main reasons it took Wagner so long to gain support, but his dominance within his workload ends up winning out. 

Wagner has said he wants to wear an Astros cap on his plaque and he spent parts of nine seasons there, so it’s extremely likely he gets his wish. He also spent four years with the Mets, two with the Phillies and one each with the Braves and Red Sox.