The Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2025 will represent New York.
CC Sabathia, in his first year of eligibility, and Billy Wagner, in his final year on the ballot, have joined shoo-in Ichiro Suzuki for a trio of inductions who have ties to the Big Apple.
In results announced Tuesday, all three surpassed the necessary 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Former Yankee and Met Carlos Beltran came up short of immortality for now.
Sabathia has said he intends to go into the Hall with a Yankees cap after spending 11 years at the front of the rotation in The Bronx.
The bulldog of a lefty, who spent his first seven-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland and half a year in Milwaukee, helped the Yankees to the 2009 World Series and was beloved, reliable and often dominant.
It took all 10 years of eligibility, but Wagner crossed the threshold.
The lefty closer, who spent four years with the Mets, had risen to 73.8 percent last year and fell five votes short.
In his last try through the BBWAA vote, Wagner will be enshrined after a career that finished with 422 saves (eighth-most ever), a 187 ERA+ that reinforced his excellence and 1,196 strikeouts in 903 innings, an 11.9 Ks-per-nine-innings mark that is the highest for any pitcher who logged 900 innings.
There was far less drama surrounding Suzuki, the only question whether he would join Mariano Rivera as the only unanimous selections in the history of the Hall of Fame. He fell short with 99.7% of the vote.
A wizard with a bat, Suzuki did not come over to the majors until he was 27 and still finished with more than 3,000 hits in MLB.
The longtime Mariners outfielder spent two-plus seasons with the Yankees from 2012-14.
Beltran, who spent three years with the Yankees and seven seasons (including some of his best) with the Mets, was a near-miss on his third year on the ballot and seems to be a lock sometime in the future.
