Cooperstown was flooded with baseball fans for the annual induction ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. The 2024 induction class included former Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, longtime third baseman Adrián Beltré, former Twins catcher Joe Mauer, and legendary manager Jim Leyland.
All four of those players made impacted the cities where they played and put up terrific numbers over great careers. Two of them only wore one team’s jersey throughout their careers, which is rare in the era of free agency. Now, all four have joined the all-time elite in the game.
With this year’s induction ceremony now complete, baseball fans can look ahead to next year’s ballot. Some players from previous ballots hope to join this year’s class in the Hall, but a new name on the ballot is certainly the headline-grabber.
Ichiro Suzuki didn’t come to Major League Baseball until he was 27, but his impact was immediate. He joined the Seattle Mariners in 2001 and led the league in batting average (0.350), hits (242), and stolen bases (56) on his way to being named the American League Rookie of the Year. He and Red Sox legend Fred Lynn were the only players to win the Most Valuable Player Award and the Rookie of the Year in the same season.
That was just a taste of things to come.
Suzuki represented the Mariners in the All-Star Game in his rookie season and did so during the first 10 seasons of his career. He led the league in hits seven times and won two batting titles. Also a defensive dynamo, Suzuki won 10 Gold Glove Awards as well, and his arm strength in right field is legendary.
In 19 seasons in MLB, Ichiro accumulated 3,089 hits, drove in 780 runs, and stole 509 bases. And, again, all of those numbers came after an iconic career in Japan. Many have made a case that Ichiro is the all-time hits leader, combining his hits in Japan and Major League Baseball. He should be considered a lock to get in on his first ballot. The question is if he can join Mariano Rivera and be unanimously voted in by the BBWAA.
Another player on the ballot for the first time who will receive great consideration is CC Sabathia. Appropriately, Sabathia came up with the then-Cleveland Indians in 2001 and finished the runner-up to Ichiro for the American League Rookie of the Year. He went 17–5 as a rookie, striking out 171 in 180.1 innings.
A throwback workhorse who frequently pitched more than 200 innings during his career, Sabathia may have made his biggest impact in only 17 appearances in Milwaukee after Cleveland traded him to the Brewers during the 2008 season. Down the stretch, Sabathia was nearly unbeatable. He went 11–2 with seven complete games in those 17 games, drawing comparisons to Rick Sutcliffe joining the Chicago Cubs in 1984.
Sabathia won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007 and appeared in six All-Star Games with Cleveland and the New York Yankees. In 2009, Sabathia’s first with the Yankees, he won 19 games to lead the American League. He also earned ALCS MVP honors and was part of the Yankees’ World Series championship team.
Over his storied career spent primarily with the Indians and Yankees, Sabathia won 251 games and struck out 3,093 batters in 3,577.1 innings. He also threw 38 complete games, a total that may stand out more as years pass with pitchers no longer finishing games as frequently in the majors.
Some other notable first-timers on the ballot this year include former Red Sox second baseman and 2008 American League MVP Dustin Pedroia, long-time Mariners ace and 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner Félix Hernández, and three-time all-star and Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson.
A few players are returning to the ballot for 2025 who hope to finally earn induction.
Long-time closer Billy Wagner will appear on the BBWAA ballot for the 10th and final time this winter after falling just a few votes shy of the 75 percent threshold for induction in 2024 (he received 73.8 percent). Wagner saved 422 games and struck out 1,196 batters in 903 innings over his career. He appeared in seven All-Star Games with the Mets, Phillies, and Astros.
Centerfielder Andruw Jones will appear on the ballot for the eighth time after receiving 61.6 percent of the vote last year. Jones was considered the best defensive centerfielder of his generation—some have argued ever—and received 10 Gold Glove Awards (Willie Mays won 12).
Jones, a native of Curaçao, was a five-time All-Star and burst onto the scene during the 1996 postseason as a 19-year-old, becoming the youngest player ever to hit a home run in the postseason, and just the second player ever to homer in his first two World Series plate appearances.
Three other holdovers on the ballot remain outside of the induction threshold because of controversial careers, though their career statistics would lead one to believe their production is worthy. Carlos Beltrán was one of the greatest switch-hitters in history, but his role in the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal has kept him out. And Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez remain on the outside looking in because of their repeated violations of baseball’s performance-enhancing drug rules. Of those three, only Beltrán (57.1) received more than 50 percent of the ballot for 2024’s induction.
