It’s been a bit inspiring watching the Baseball Hall of Fame news and conversation this year.
Ichiro played nine seasons in Japan, then tacked on an additional 19-year career in Major League Baseball.
C.C. Sabathia helped close out the Yankee’s 90’s-2000’s dynasty, publicly overcame a personal battle and also starred for the Indians and Brewers in the postseason. He was an iron man of the mound, no pitcher has taken the mound for more innings in the last 30 years.
Billy Wagner was the human save machine, totaling 422 saves in a 16 year-career-that’s an average of 34 a season, total dependability.
Ichiro got in on his first try, as did Sabathia. Wagner had to wait 10-years on the ballot before his election-got in on his final year. Ichiro got all but one ballot and there’s a search for the voter who decided to keep him off their ballot.
Joining the trio will be Dave Parker the Pirates-A’s great, and Dick Allen the Phillies and White Sox slugger, known as “Crash” and “the Wampum Walloper”.
As Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner are workhorses, the same can be said for Tom Hamilton, one of my favorite and undoubtedly one of the most enthusiastic radio broadcasters of the modern era. Hamilton will be inducted as the 2025 Ford. C. Frick winner as the the radio voice in Cleveland since 1990. You won’t hear too many broadcasters who have brought as much energy to the game, day-after-day, year-after-year.
Here are the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame voting results:
One stat jumps off the page the most for Sabathia, he’s one of five pitchers in the entire history of the game to have 250 wins, a .600 winning percentage and 3,000 strikeouts. He’s 18th in the history of all of baseball in strikeouts, and one of three left handers ever to get above 3,000 strikeouts. Sabathia pitched 3,577 1/3 innings in his career.
Hall of Fame voters are valuing constistency. Was C.C. Sabathia a superstar? I would say no. He would only be revered as such in NYC. Was he a Pedro, Randy Johnson and just dominated batters? Probably not.
Why was Sabathia was not more appreciated? Perhaps the New York glare blinded the rest of us. He played with a little attitude, which almost all of the great pitchers had.
We need to find the single voter who didn’t vote for Ichiro.
Ichiro and C.C. become only the 61st and 62nd players elected as first-ballot Hall of Famers.
You won’t find that many relievers wondering the streets of Cooperstown during Hall Fame weekend (maybe that’s a good thing?) Wagner becomes only the ninth pure reliever to make it to baseball’s most famous oak walls.
Three underdog guys, with obvious great talent, who were able to maximize that talent for multiple decades.
