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Billy Wagner, father of Blue Jays’ Will, voted into the Hall of Fame
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Photo credit: © Gregory Fisher - USA Today
Ryley Delaney
Jan 21, 2025, 20:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 21, 2025, 19:59 EST
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Cooperstown has three new members.
On Tuesday evening, three players were elected by the BBWAA: Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner.
Wagner, father to Toronto Blue Jays’ second baseman Will, pitched 16 seasons in Major League Baseball, posting a 2.31 ERA and a 2.73 FIP in 903 innings pitched. He also picked up 422 career saves in 460 attempts. He ranks eighth all-time in saves, with only two current players (Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel) ranking higher than him.
Wagner stuck out a lot of batters, as his 33.2 K% was the highest for any pitcher with 900+ innings pitched in the sport. However, of any reliever in the Hall of Fame, his 903 innings are the fewest, but how can you deny him a spot? This was Wagner’s final year of eligibility to be voted in, as he finished his career after the 2010 season. Hopefully, Will has a Hall of Fame-esque career as well.
There’s only one player in the history of the Hall of Fame to be voted in unanimously, New York Yankee closer Mariano Rivera. Derek Jeter fell one vote shy a couple of years ago, and the same thing happened to Suzuki.
Suzuki became the first player from Japan to ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and for good reason. Coming to Major League Baseball in 2001 as a 27-year-old, the outfielder went on to play for 19 seasons, slashing .311/.355/.402 with 117 home runs in 10,734 plate appearances. While his 104 wRC+ isn’t anything special, Suzuki accumulated 57.5 fWAR in his time in the big leagues.
He’s one of just 33 hitters in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits, which is pretty much a lock to reach Cooperstown. Of the five players with 3,000+ hits, only five aren’t in the Hall of Fame, as Alberto Puljos and Miguel Cabrera aren’t eligible to be voted in yet, while Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmerio all had scandals that have kept voters from voting them into Cooperstown.
Sabathia is the first pitcher to be voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility since 2019 when Rivera and the late-great Roy Halladay were elected, with Sabathia receiving 86.8% of votes. For his career, the left-handed pitcher had a 3.74 ERA and a 3.78 FIP in 3577.1 innings pitched, with a 20.6 K% and a 7.3 BB%. Sabathia started his career in 2001 with the Cleveland Guardians and briefly pitched with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 (he pitched an incredible 253 innings between the Brewers and the Guardians), before wrapping up his last 11 seasons with the New York Yankees.
What a career these three players had.
As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.

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