CC Sabathia officially became the latest longtime Yankee to reach the Baseball Hall of Fame when the voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America was announced Tuesday night, sending Sabathia to Cooperstown along with Ichiro Suzuki and former Mets reliever Billy Wagner.

Other bits of intrigue ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. announcement: Will CC Sabathia be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is this the year Billy Wagner gets in?

CC Sabathia was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 86.8% of votes, marking his significant career with 251 wins, a 3.74 ERA, and 3,093 strikeouts. He'll enter the Hall with a Yankees cap.

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.

Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia were elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday night, Suzuki in overwhelming fashion, while Billy Wagner made the most of his 10th and final appearance on the ballot, clearing the 75% barrier to inclusion by earning 325 of 394 votes.

In Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, the Baseball Writers Association delivered quite an eclectic trifecta to Cooperstown on Tuesday. The first Japanese player ever elected to the Hall of Fame,

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 received 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots and Wagner on 325, which was 29 more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.

Ichiro falls a vote short of being the second unanimous choice ever. CC makes it in his first year of eligibility, Wagner in his last. The recent ballot glut has cleared.

Ichiro Suzuki had already cemented a strong, and likely everlasting baseball card market long before Tuesday’s almost unanimous vote for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, headlining the class of 2025.

Debates regarding the 2025 ballot have primarily focused on whether outfielder Ichiro Suzuki will become the second unanimous electee after right-handed pitcher Mariano Rivera (2019) and if left ...