The BBWAA has elected three players to the Baseball Hall of Fame - Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Ichiro received 393 out of 394 ballots earning 99.7% of the vote in his first year of eligibility. The Japanese born batsmen played 19 MLB seasons mostly with the Seattle Mariners along with stints with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. He finished his MLB career with 3,089 hits with a lifetime batting average of .311 with 117 and 780 RBI. Ichiro won AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP as well as the AL batting title in 2001 becoming only the second player in MLB history to do after Fred Lynn pulled it off with the Boston Red Sox in 1975. Earning AL All-Star selections in his first 10 seasons, he collected 200 or more hits in each of those seasons leading the AL in hits seven times. In 2004, Ichiro set the single season record for hits with 262 surpassing George Sisler 257 hits with the St. Louis Browns in 1920. He would also win his second AL batting crown posting a career high .372 batting average. For good measure, Ichiro won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves for his outfield play. Ichiro is the first Asian born player to receive a plaque in Cooperstown.
C.C. Sabathia was also elected to Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility receiving 86.8% of the vote. Drafted by the Cleveland Indians out of high school in the first round of the 1998 MLB Draft, Sabathia would make his MLB debut in 2001 and finish runner up in AL Rookie of the Year balloting to none other than Ichiro. In 2007, he won the AL Cy Young Award. In the middle of the 2008 season, Sabathia was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers where he helped them earn a NL Wild Card berth. Prior to the 2009 season, Sabathia signed a large free agent contract with the New York Yankees and would pitch with them the remainder of his playing career finishing in the top five in AL Cy Young balloting thrice. In 19 MLB seasons, Sabathia appeared in 561 games (560 starts) with a record of 251-161 with an ERA of 3.74 striking out 3093 batters along with six AL All-Star Team selections.
Billy Wagner got the call in his 10th and final year on the BBWAA ballot. A native of Virginia, Wagner was selected in the first round of the 1993 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros and make his MLB debut late in the 1995 season. The southpaw spent 16 seasons in MLB mostly with the Astros but had stints with the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves and was selected to the NL All-Star Team seven times.. Although Wagner never led the league in saves, he finished with 422 which is 8th on the MLB all-time list. Only John Franco has more saves as a southpaw (424). Those 422 saves came out of 853 career appearances on the mound all in relief. Wagner went 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA striking out 1196 batters while walking only 300 in 903 innings pitched.
Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones earned 70.3% and 66.2% of the BBWAA vote, respectively. Beltran is in his third year of eligibility while Jones is in his 8th year of eligibility. No other candidate received more than 40% of the vote. A threshold of 75% of the vote is required for induction.
Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner will join Dave Parker and the late Dick Allen (who were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Baseball Committee last month) for induction ceremonies in Cooperstown on July 27th. A hearty congratulations to all.
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