The ballot for the vote Hall of Fame of the Baseball 2025 finally came to light. The BBWAA ballot, considered the traditional vote, was released Monday.
Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia They lead a group of 14 players who are on the ballot for the first time.
It also includes two-time World Series champion with the Red Sox, Dustin Pedroia, and another Mariners legend, Venezuelan Félix Hernández. The others who appear for the first time are the Venezuelan Carlos González, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones, Ian Kinsler, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, the Dominicans Hanley Ramírez and Fernando Rodney, Troy Tulowitzki and Ben Zobrist.
However, it is Ichiro and Sabathia who have the best chances of receiving the 75% of the votes needed to be immortalized in their first year on the ballot.
Suzuki, of course, is the highlight. The 2001 MVP didn’t arrive from Japan until he was 27 and still compiled 3,089 hits in his 19 MLB seasons along with 1,420 runs and 509 stolen bases. The question for Suzuki is not whether it enters, but whether it is unanimous or not.
From the same group that decided that Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron could not be unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame, will the same happen with Ichiro?
After nine decades of voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America, Mariano Rivera remains the only player elected unanimously. But no unanimously elected position player in nearly a century?
Derek Jeter was almost assured of unanimous victory in 2020. However, he was one vote away. Then there was Ken Griffey Jr. in 2016, but his name was missing from three ballots.
Ichiro Suzuki is the only player in history to have 10 straight seasons with 200 hits and a Gold Glove. No other player in history had even five straight seasons like that.
The Japanese has the credentials to be unanimous, but in two months it will be known if the voters believe this.
