Fairly the journey for a 27-year-old who left the Pacific League’s Orix BlueWave in November 2000 to signal with Seattle as the primary Japanese place participant in Main League Baseball.
“I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought that I would be a Hall of Famer,” he mentioned. “As a baseball player, this is definitely the top of the top.”
Ichiro acquired 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 greater than the 296 wanted for the required 75%.
Sabathia and Ichiro had been elected of their first look on the poll. Wagner made it on his tenth and ultimate attempt.
The trio will likely be inducted into the Corridor at Cooperstown on July 27 together with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in final month by the traditional period committee.
Mariano Rivera remained the one participant to get 100% of the vote from the BBWAA, showing on all 425 ballots in 2019. Derek Jeter was chosen on 395 of 396 in 2020.
Seattle’s Area Needle was lit blue in honor of Ichiro, who joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the one gamers to win Rookie of the 12 months and MVP in the identical season. The Mariners introduced plans to retire Ichiro’s No. 51 on Aug. 9.
Ichiro was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBI and 509 stolen bases with Seattle (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami (2015-17).
He’s maybe one of the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Skilled Baseball and three,089 in MLB, together with a season-record 262 in 2004. His mixed complete of 4,367 exceeds Pete Rose’s MLB document of 4,256.
In his function as a Mariners particular assistant, he nonetheless will get wearing baseball garments for house exercises for instance for as we speak’s gamers.
“I want to be able to show the players how I did it,” he mentioned. “Also in the offseason I go to a few high schools in Japan and I want to be able to show them what a professional baseball player looks like.”
Sabathia, second to Ichiro in 2001 AL Rookie of the 12 months voting, was a six-time All-Star who received the 2007 AL Cy Younger Award and a World Collection title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and three,093 strikeouts, third amongst left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, throughout 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the New York Yankees (2009-19).
“I turned myself into my version of Jamie Moyer, is what I felt like: backdoor sliders, changeups, cutters on your hands, two-seamers off the plate,” he mentioned. “I fought it for a long time. When you’re a guy that is throwing 94, 95 (mph) your whole life, it’s hard to buy in.”
Wagner was 5 votes shy final yr. He bought solely 10.5% help in his first look in 2016, and 10.2% the next yr.
He turned the ninth pitcher within the Corridor who was primarily a reliever — the primary left-hander amongst them — after Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and 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). His 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings are essentially the most amongst pitchers with a minimum of 900 innings, although his 903 profession innings are the fewest amongst Corridor of Famers.
Carlos Beltrán fell 19 votes quick at 70.3%, up from 57.1% final yr and 46.5% in 2023 in his first poll look. He was adopted by Andruw Jones with 261 for 66.2%, a rise from 61.6% final yr and seven.3% when he first appeared in 2018.
Jones has two extra possibilities on the BBWAA poll.
Chase Utley was sixth with 157 votes for 39.8%, a rise from 28.8% in his first look.
Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez have lagged in voting, harm by suspensions for performance-enhancing medication. Rodriguez acquired 37.1% in his fourth look, up from 34.8%, and Ramírez bought 34.3% in his ninth, a rise from 32.5%.
Andy Pettitte bought 110 votes and 27.9% in his seventh look, doubling from 13.5% final yr. Félix Hernández acquired 81 votes and 20.6% in his first poll.
Gamers comprise 278 of 351 elected Corridor of Famers, together with 142 on the BBWAA poll, of which 62 had been elected of their first yr of eligibility.
Carlos González, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones, Ian Kinsler, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Hanley Ramírez, Fernando Rodney, Troy Tulowitzki and Ben Zobrist will likely be dropped from future ballots after receiving lower than 5%.
Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp be a part of the poll subsequent yr.