Hall of Fame Class of 2025
The Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2025 has been announced. The inductees are CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, and Billy Wagner.
CC Sabathia was drafted 20th overall by the Cleveland Indians in the 1998 Draft. Sabathia was one of the greatest left handed pitchers of his generation, and showed great intensity and pitchability throughout his career. Sabathia spent the first six seasons of his career with Cleveland, where he had a 3.83 ERA in 1,406 innings. He collected 3 all-star nods, finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year (2001), and won the AL Cy Young award in 2007. In 2008, Sabathia was traded from Cleveland to Milwaukee at the trade deadline, where Sabathia would have the best run of his career. In 17 starts with the Brewers, Sabathia pitched to a 1.65 ERA and 7 complete games, leading the Brewers to their first postseason birth since 1982. Sabathia would then sign a long term deal with the New York Yankees, and would immediately help them win the 2009 World Series as Sabathia threw 36.1 innings, only allowing 8 earned runs in the 2009 postseason. He would spend the rest of his career in The Bronx, retiring after the 2019 season. Sabathia collected 251 wins and 3,093 strikeouts in a 19 year career.
Billy Wagner was drafted by the Houston Astros with the 20th overall pick in the 1993 Draft. Wagner was selected into the Hall Of Fame on his 10th and final ballot, although many thought he should have been selected much earlier. Wagner finished his career with 422 saves, 1,196 strikeouts and a 2.31 ERA. Wagner is regarded as one of the best, if not the single best left handed reliever in MLB history, finishing 2nd in saves by a left-handed reliever only behind John Franco with 424 saves. Wagner was also selected to 7 All-Star Games.
Last but not least, Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro was only one vote away from being elected into the Baseball Hall Of Fame unanimously. Ichiro came to the MLB from Japan at the age of 27 and took the league by storm, winning the AL Rookie of The Year award and the AL MVP award in 2001 with the Mariners. Ichiro is widely regarded as one of the best contact hitters of his generation, surpassing the 3,000 hit mark and setting the MLB single-season record for most hits in a season in 2004, when he collected 262 hits. Ichiro finished his MLB career with a laundry list of accolades: 10x Gold Glove winner, 2001 AL MVP and Rookie of The Year, 3-time Silver Slugger award winner, 2-time batting champion, and a 10-time All-Star.
