Chase Utley and Ian Kinsler had virtually identical careers from a stats and awards perspective, but their Hall of Fame cases vary widely.
There was no doubt about Ichiro and little doubt about CC Sabathia, but one-time Phillies closer Billy Wagner still had to sweat it out in his 10th and final year on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot,
The trio of stars, each of whom spent part of their career in New York, will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 27.
Once more, for baseball immortality, Billy Wagner closed it out. Wagner, the dominant closer who played a two-season sliver of his 16-year career with the Phillies, got elected Tuesday night to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 10th and final year on the ballot.
Ichiro Suzuki missed unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote Tuesday night when he headlined a three-player class selected by the 394 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
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Chase Utley made gains in the his second year on the Hall of Fame ballot. We look at how he and the seven other former Dodgers did on the 2025 ballot. Ichiro, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner were inducted to Cooperstown.
The Cooperstown candidacies of Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones might benefit by the lack of slam-dunk newcomers to the 2026 Hall of Fame ballot.
Chase Utley is well-positioned to someday reach the 75% mark for election, but Jimmy Rollins and Bobby Abreu are spinning their wheels.
Ichiro Suzuki became the first player born in Japan to be inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Falling just one vote shy of a unanimous induction, Ichiro is a
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.