Lefty pitchers Billy Wagner and CC Sabathia both earned their spots in the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining near-unanimous selection Ichiro

Former Cleveland Guardians ace CC Sabathia has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after a brilliant career that included stints with the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees. In Cleveland, Sabathia made the leap from being a thrower to becoming a pitcher in every sense of the word.

Surrounded at his Alpine NJ home by family and friends, CC Sabathia hopes his legacy as a teammate lives on with Baseball Hall of Fame election.

Suzuki's close call means New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera remains the only unanimous electee. Rivera received all 425 votes in 2019. Another longtime Yankees icon, shortstop Derek Jeter, came within one vote of unanimous election in 2020. Suzuki, Rivera and Jeter were teammates with New York from 2012-13.

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.

That was one of the best debut seasons ever. Ichiro was an All-Star and won a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove award in right field. He not only coasted to the Rookie of the Year award but narrowly surpassed Jason Giambi to win the MVP. He joined Fred Lynn as the only rookies to be named the Most Valuable Player.

An online site that tracks Baseball Hall of Fame voting doesn’t expect the lone voter who did not check Ichiro Suzuki on his ballot to ever come forward.

BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O’Connell recalled Suzuki was at the Hall in 2001 when he called to inform the Seattle star he had been voted AL Rookie of the Year. Suzuki received 27 of 28 first-place votes, all but one from an Ohio writer who selected Sabathia.

Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to check off his name on the Hall of Fame ballot. “There’s one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from,” he said through a translator Thursday,

Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to check off his name on the Hall of Fame ballot.

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.