Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
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“I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought that I would be a Hall of Famer,” he said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Used to leading off, Ichiro Suzuki got antsy when he had to wait.
Considered a no-doubt pick for baseball’s Hall of Fame and possibly the second unanimous selection, he waited by the phone for the expected call Tuesday. Fifteen minutes passed without a ring.
“I actually started getting kind of nervous,” he said through a translator. “I was actually relieved when I first got the call.”
Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for the Hall, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Quite the journey for a 27-year-old who left the Pacific League’s Orix BlueWave in November 2000 to sign with Seattle as the first Japanese position player in Major League Baseball.
“I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought that I would be a Hall of Famer,” he said. “As a baseball player, this is definitely the top of the top.”
Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.
Sabathia and Suzuki were elected in their first appearance on the ballot, while Wagner made it on his 10th and final try. The trio will be inducted into the Hall at Cooperstown on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.
Mariano Rivera remained the only player to get 100% of the vote from the BBWAA, appearing on all 425 ballots in 2019. Derek Jeter was chosen on 395 of 396 in 2020.
Seattle’s Space Needle was lit blue in honor of Suzuki, who joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. The Mariners announced plans to retire Suzuki’s No. 51 on Aug. 9.
