Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner have been elected this year. They join Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were selected to the Hall of Fame by the Classic Era Committee in December 2024. The 2025 Induction Ceremony will take place on July 27 in Cooperstown.

The no-doubters appear to be a few years away as next winter's ballot doesn't include any slam-dunk first-ballot inductees.

As revealed Tuesday night, the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted in former Phillies closer Billy Wagner in his 10th and final year of eligibility. Wagner's name needed to appear on 75% of ballots to make it in. It appeared on 82.5%.

Takeaways from an election in which Ichiro, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner punched their tickets to Cooperstown.

Ken Griffey Jr. played on the same Seattle team as Ichiro in 2009 and 2010, near the end of Junior's playing career.

In a video posted on X by sports writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz, Wagner leaned against a pool table while taking the call. He listened for more than 15 seconds before he put his hand on his face, fighting tears and hunching over. “Thank you,” he eventually said to the person on the other end of the phone.

Ichiro will be the first Japanese player enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame during the induction ceremony on July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

In his first year on the Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot, former Brewers starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame alongside legendary Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and Astros closer Billy Wagner.

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Ichiro Suzuki, and CC Sabathia were voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on their first years on the ballot, while Billy Wagner earned election in his

NEW YORK (AP) — Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, voted in Tuesday along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. 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.