Shohei Ohtani celebrates Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia & Billy Wagner's Hall of Fame induction

Modified Jan 22, 2025 03:36 GMT

Shohei Ohtani celebrates Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia & Billy Wagner's Hall of Fame induction (Image Source: Imagn)

The Class of 2025 for the National Baseball Hall of Fame was completed on Tuesday evening, with Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner being the three players inducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Suzuki and Sabathia were first-ballot inductees, while Wagner had to wait until his final year to get over the line.

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani posted a few updates on Instagram story to congratulate Suzuki, Sabathia and Wagner. Unsurprisingly, two of the four posts Ohtani shared were focused on his compatriot.

Shohei Ohtani IG story (Image Source: Shohei Ohtani/Instagram)

As widely expected, Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player to get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

He played 19 seasons in the MLB after nine years in the NPB and posted over 3000 hits in The Show with a batting average of .311. Ichiro made his major league debut in 2001 for the Seattle Mariners and won the Rookie of the Year and MVP, becoming only the second player to do so.

Shohei Ohtani also posted a tribute to CC Sabathia, a six-time All-Star and a key part of the 2009 World Series-winning New York Yankees team.

Regarded as one of the most durable pitchers of his era, Sabathia posted 3,093 strikeouts over his 19-year career, becoming the third lefty to reach that mark. He won the 2007 American League Cy Young and finished in the top five on four other occasions.

Meanwhile, Billy Wagner surpassed the 75% threshold to make his way into Cooperstown after falling just short the previous year.

Wagner was one of the most dominant closers with 422 saves. His 33.2% strikeout rate is the best among pitchers with at least 900 innings. The .186 batting average is the lowest in the modern era, while a 2.31 ERA and 0.998 WHIP are the best for any lefty pitcher.

Ichiro Suzuki narrowly misses out on unanimous selection

Ichiro was elected into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame last week (Image Source: Imagn)

Although Ichiro Suzuki was tipped to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, he was expected to be voted in unanimously, considering his outstanding major league career and universal appeal among players, writers and fans. However, he fell narrowly short of becoming only the second player to achieve the feat.

Ichiro Suzuki earned 99.7 percent of the total votes, meaning he missed out on one vote to become a unanimous selection. Only legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera holds that distinction.

Edited by Bhargav