NEW YORK – There’s nothing really new to my 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, except the pleasure of voting for first-time eligibles Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia.
Of the 28 players appearing on this year’s ballot, I checked six boxes.
Ichiro, with his all-around brilliance, ought to be unanimous.
Sabathia, with his supreme talent and fearless nature, ought to get in.
Three of my votes, perhaps viewed as stubborn support, went to Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel. My other holdover was Carlos Beltran, who should already be in Cooperstown.
CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki
They were Yankees teammates from the middle of 2012 through 2014, when Ichiro was 38 and past his 10 straight, All-Star, Gold Glove years of 200-plus hits with the Mariners.
Arriving from Seattle in a July 2012 trade, Ichiro batted .322 in 67 Yankees games and hit .353 in the AL Championship Series, which the Detroit Tigers swept in four games.
That was the fourth and last of Ichiro’s four postseason series, all disappointingly ending short of a World Series.
Through his age-40 season, Ichiro was a regular on two Yankee teams that missed postseason, and he’d achieve his 3,000th MLB hit with the Miami Marlins – an incredible achievement, having played his first nine seasons in Japan through age 26.
Consider what Sabathia did in the months leading up to his free agency, with so much personally on the line.
Traded from Cleveland to Milwaukee, he carried the Brewers to their first playoff appearance in 25 years, posting a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts – some on short rest – with seven complete games.
A year later, Sabathia is the ace of the 2009 world champion Yankees, and a three-time All-Star through 2012 – someone whose measure as a pitcher can’t fully be calculated without mentioning his heart.
Sabathia didn’t just want the ball in the biggest spots, he wanted to dominate the opposition. And when his great fastball had faded, he adapted and learned the true art of pitching.
When you recall Sabathia’s career, beyond the 3,093 strikeouts and 251 wins, it’s the fierce competitor that first comes to mind.
Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel
They’ll continue to fall below the 75 percent threshold of election, and I’ll continue voting for them until they fall off the ballot.
This is A-Rod’s fourth year (named on 34.8 percent of ballots last year), Ramirez’s ninth (32.5 percent) and Vizquel’s eighth (17.7 percent).
As previously stated here, go ahead and etch on their plaques that A-Rod and Manny were suspended for PED use, instead of denying two obvious Hall of Famers a spot in baseball’s museum.
By and large, our electorate does a solid job, and if you expanded the voting body, you’d probably get the same results.
But there is, to my view, a degree of piousness applied to certain players due to steroid use in the “Steroid Era’’ (sanctioned at the time by the inaction of MLB teams and officials).
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were always on my ballot. Gary Sheffield was too, nine times out of 10, and his inclusion with the PED players – to my thinking – smacks of injustice.
Disturbing, post-career allegations have torpedoed Vizquel’s Hall candidacy, which reached 52.6 percent in his third year on the ballot.
I’ll keep voting for the player, one of the most remarkable defensive shortstops ever, who maintained that brilliance late into a 24-year career.
Carlos Beltran, still outside Hall of Fame
MLB somehow found it necessary to single out one player, Beltran, in its official report investigating the Houston Astros’ electronic sign-stealing scandal.
Beltran’s participation occurred in 2017, the final year of a decorated career as a star, switch-hitting center fielder with over 400 homers, 300 steals and multiple Gold Glove Awards.
The punishment continued with Beltran’s underwhelming support during his first two appearances on the Hall of Fame ballot.
This is Year 3, and Beltran has been – and will continue to be – on my ballot until he’s elected, hopefully soon.
Billy Wagner and the omissions
In his first five years on the ballot, Billy Wagner’s support ranged from 10.5 percent to 31.7 percent.
Since then, his candidacy gained velocity, but it doesn’t change the fact that relievers must be held to super exceptional standards.
Wagner’s terrific WHIP and tremendous strikeout rate are undeniable, but a low innings total and lack of any postseason plays against him.
Wagner, Andruw Jones and Jimmy Rollins had standout careers, but they don’t cross a Hall of Fame threshold for me.
To put it mildly, your mileage may vary.
And that’s why the Cooperstown conversation is an entertaining, often maddening, never-ending debate that can – at times – result in a changed vote on a future ballot.
