One of the great things about each individual class being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame is how they’re all made up of players of such different styles and backgrounds.
The Class of 2025 is no different. It consists of the prototypical physically imposing starting pitcher, an undersized, flamethrowing relief pitcher and one of the most singularly iconic players in the game’s history.
All three were in Cooperstown on Thursday as CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner and Ichiro Suzuki toured the museum, received their Hall of Fame hats and jerseys and signed the back of the plaques that will eventually feature their likenesses.
The trio will join veterans committee inductees Dick Allen and Dave Parker as the Hall’s newest members at the Clark Sports Center on July 27.
Suzuki in particular has been an avid fan of the Hall of Fame for years and was able to savor another chance to view the history of the game on Wednesday.
“I’ve come to the Hall of Fame as a player seven times,” he said through an interpreter. “This is my eighth time here at the Hall of Fame and what an honor it is for me to be here as a Hall of Famer. This is just a very special moment.”
Suzuki nearly joined Mariano Rivera as the only players to be voted into the Hall unanimously, receiving 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He made light of that one notable missing vote.
“There’s one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from,” Suzuki said. “I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together, and we’ll have a good chat.”
The first Japanese-born player to be elected to the Hall of Fame, Suzuki burst onto the scene in the U.S. with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, winning both AL Rookie of the Year and MVP honors.
He finished his Major League career with 3,089 hits, 509 stolen bases, a .311 batting average, 10 All-Star Game appearances and 10 Gold Gloves, all despite not coming to America until he was already 27 years old.
When asked about what it meant to be the first Japanese player to reach Cooperstown, Suzuki wasn’t able to fully absorb the accomplishment.
“Maybe five, 10 years from now I could look back and maybe we’ll be able to say this is what it meant,” he said.
Suzuki and Sabathia have ties that stretch the lengths of their careers. Both players entered the Majors in 2001 (when Sabathia finished as the runner-up for Rookie of the Year behind Suzuki). The two would eventually join forces as teammates with the New York Yankees for parts of three seasons.
Sabathia remembers testing out a new slider against Suzuki during his days in Cleveland and how it didn’t end well for him.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this thing is awesome. I’m taking this right into the game,’” Sabathia said. “And we go to Seattle my next start, and I take it to the game, and I get to two strikes on Ichi … and he hits it off the window.
“I throw it to him again, first pitch. … He hits it out again. He was one of the best players of our generation. I always loved battling him.”
Sabathia spent his first seven-plus seasons in Cleveland, winning the Cy Young Award in 2007 and making three All-Star appearances. After a brief but memorable stint with the Milwaukee Brewers, Sabathia spent the last 11 years of his career in the Bronx, making three more All-Star Games and helping the Yankees to the 2009 World Series title.
The southpaw finished his career with 3,093 strikeouts — trailing only Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton among lefties — a record of 251-161 and a 3.74 ERA.
Sabathia noted how, after signing a massive free agent contract with the Yankees, he knew it was the right place for him to be.
“Two or three days into Spring Training, me and Andy [Pettitte] are running in the outfield,” he said. “I get a chance to meet [Derek] Jeter, we’re hanging out. The pitching staff, we’re going to dinners and we’re going to basketball games together, so it didn’t take long at all before I felt like this was the right decision to make.
“I’m super excited that I had a chance to play 11 years in the Bronx with that uniform on, and I’m excited to have that hat on my plaque, for sure.”
Suzuki and Sabathia were both elected into the Hall of Fame on their first ballot. The opposite was true for Wagner, who had to wait until his 10th and final year of eligibility.
It’s perhaps fitting that a man who had to wait until the end of games to make his mark had to wait so long to reach Cooperstown. When asked about what it meant to finally receive that cherished phone call, Wagner became visibly emotional.
“It’s humbling,” he said, needing to take a moment before adding, “I don’t know if it’s deserving but to sit out 10 years and have your career scrutinized and stuff, it’s tough. The 10th year was, to be expected, the toughest. But as I’m sitting here, it was worth it.
“I hope kids around see that there is a chance that you can get here and it is possible, that size and where you’re from doesn’t matter,” Wagner said. “I think Pedro [Martinez] said it first, but If I can get here, anyone can get here.”
A seven-time All-Star, Wagner finished with 422 saves and a 2.31 ERA in a 16-year career spent with the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves. His strikeout rate of 11.9 per nine innings is the highest among any pitcher with at least 900 innings pitched.
Like his classmates, Wagner was left in awe after taking in the museum with the knowledge that he was now a part of it forever.
“You’re looking at the names on the [plaques] as you go through and you just realize how much bigger the game really is and if you really, truly belong in this,” Wagner said. “It’s fascinating just to be part of the history of this, and it just puts you into a really small space when you realize that you’re standing there with the Mickey Mantles and Joe DiMaggios and Sandy Koufaxes. It really makes you feel humble.”