With temperatures hovering around four degrees Tuesday night in the hamlet of Cooperstown, New York, the attention of the baseball world turns to summer of the past now that the votes have been tallied, and the 2025 Hall of Fame class is complete. Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner join Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality. Suzuki and Sabathia make it on their first try while Wagner made it in his final shot.
Just two others scored greater than 50% of the vote, led by Carlos Beltran, who came just short at 70.3% and seems likely to make it next year. Andruw Jones rose to 66.2% with two more years to go.
On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw a small increase in support, finishing with 34.3% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions. Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 18% in his fourth go-around. The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, stayed stagnant with 17.8%. Mark Buehrle saw a small increase, going up to 11.4% in his fifth time on the ballot, living to fight another day. Former Cubs Carlos González, Fernando Rodney, and Ben Zobrist nabbed a single vote between them.
Ten players will fall off the ballot after failing to score 5% of the vote.
As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Suzuki play fifteen times, Sabathia eight times, and Wagner five times. They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 27.
Ichiro Suzuki’s numbers in games I’ve attended were: Continue reading →
