Former Yankees Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia joined former Met Billy Wagner on Thursday at a news conference about being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Former New York Yankees Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia, along with closer Billy Wagner, were voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, joining Cl
CC Sabathia’s career ended abruptly. Yes, the longtime Yankees left-hander had announced months earlier his plans to retire after the 2019 season, but his final appearance did not go as ceremoniously as Derek Jeter’s or Mariano Rivera’s.
New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca, left, congratulates closer Billy Wagner by patting him on the cap after the Mets 4-3 win over the New York Yankees in 2006. Billy Wagner was unhittable as a pitcher and now he’s officially a baseball immortal.
Wagner, one of the game's all-time great relievers, made the cut during the final year of his eligibility on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, receiving 82.5% of the vote. Wagner would've been removed from the ballot if he didn't meet the voting requirement in 2025, and it's clear just how much it meant to him to get the nod.
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.
Billy Wagner received 82.5 percent of the tally from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, after he missed by just five votes last year.
If Sabathia and Beltran get in, it could be the first time players identified as Yankees and Mets on their Hall of Fame plaques are enshrined in the same year.
Lefty pitchers Billy Wagner and CC Sabathia both earned their spots in the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining near-unanimous selection Ichiro
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 three stalwarts were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday and will be enshrined in Cooperstown this summer.
Suzuki came in first in terms of voting with 393, making history as the first Japanese-born player elected to the Hall of Fame. He was close to making history again as he was nearly unanimous– and he would have been in some pretty weighty company to share with Yankee legends Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.