Suzuki, Sabathia, Wagner elected to Hall

BASEBALL >> HALL OF FAME

Ichiro becomes first Japanese player chosen; joins Sabathia as first-ballot electees

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CC Sabathia, left, greets Ichiro Suzuki, right, during a game for the New York Yankees on Aug. 29, 2012 at Yankee Stadium. JEFF ZELEVANSKY — GETTY IMAGES

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By Ronald Blum

Associated Press

NEW YORK >> Used to leading off, Ichiro Suzuki got antsy when he had to wait.

Considered a no-doubt pick for baseball’s Hall of Fame and possibly the second unanimous selection, he waited by the phone for the expected call Tuesday. Fifteen minutes passed without a ring.

“I actually started getting kind of nervous,” he said through a translator. “I was actually relieved when I first got the call.”

Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for the Hall, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Quite the journey for a 27-year-old who left the Pacific League’s Orix BlueWave in November 2000 to sign with Seattle as the first Japanese position player in Major League Baseball.

“I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought that I would be a Hall of Famer,” he said. “As a baseball player, this is definitely the top of the top.”

Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.

Sabathia and Suzuki were elected in their first time on the ballot. Wagner made it on his 10th and final try.

The trio will be inducted into the Hall on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.

Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami (2015-17).

He is perhaps the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB, including a season-record 262 in 2004. His combined total of 4,367 exceeds Pete Rose’s MLB record of 4,256.

Sabathia, second to Suzuki in 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting, was a six-time All-Star who won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the New York Yankees (2009-19).

Wagner became the ninth pitcher in the Hall who was primarily a reliever — the first left-hander among them — after Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and Mariano Rivera.

A seven-time All-Star, Wagner was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves for Houston (1995-2003), Philadelphia (2004-05), the New York Mets (2006-09), Boston (2009) and Atlanta (2010).