The Baseball Hall of Fame has officially unveiled its 2025 class with Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki headlining. But while Ichiro was the obvious call — he missed unanimous selection by a single vote — CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner had to sweat it out a little more.
That's especially true for Wagner, who was elected on his 10th ballot, the final year he was eligible for induction. He missed the cut last year by only five votes after pitching for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves.
As for Sabathia, baseball writers inducted him on his first ballot with 86.8% of all voters supporting him. Sabathia, who pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees, struck out 3,093 batters in his career, which included six All-Star selections and a Cy Young Award. He was also part of the Yankees' 2009 World Series winning team and was named MVP of that year's American League Championship Series.
Known as a workhorse, Sabathia pitched 200-or-more innings eight times in his 19-year career and started at least 30 games 12 times. Other than his championship with the Yankees, he may be best remembered for almost single-handedly carrying the Milwaukee Brewers to the 2008 postseason. As the Brewers fought for a playoff spot, he started three games in the final nine days of the regular season.
Of the players who missed the cut, Carlos Beltran (70.3%) and Andruw Jones (66.2%) came the closest.
Billy Wagner sneaks into Hall of Fame at last chance

After last year's close call, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that Wagner finally got the Hall of Fame nod in 2025. But it was probably stressful for him, knowing this was his last year of eligibility.
Known as one of the best closers of all-time, Wagner saved 422 games in his career, good for eighth on the all-time list. Of the seven players ahead of him, three are in the Hall of Fame and two are still active.
Over 16 years, Wagner was a seven-time All-Star with a career 2.31 ERA and 0.998 WHIP. He also averaged 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings in his career, which is the second-best mark of anyone who has ever pitched 800 or more innings.
Wagner, who attended Division III Ferrum College, reflected on his career in the lead-up to the announcement.
“Nobody from southwest Virginia [is in the Hall of Fame], and I don’t think there’s a Division III baseball player that’s been elected to the Hall of Fame,” he told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “There’s something to what’s going on. There’s some volume to this. I don’t know if people have thought about it in that way.”