The Tuesday Discussion: 2025 Hall of Famers?

February 6, 2024

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This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:

Next year, both C.C. Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki will be on the Hall of Fame ballot.  

Will they both get in? Which of the two will have the higher vote total?

Other former Yankees are on the ballot with some support:  Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu, and Andy Pettitte.  Will any of them be elected in 2025?

Here are their replies:

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Paul Semendinger - I think CC and Ichiro will get in, easily. I think Ichiro will get close to 100% of the vote. (I hope he gets 100%!)

Of the other players, they all have Hall of Fame cases. I think Andruw Jones will get in next year, the others will have to continue to wait.

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Cary Greene - Mike Mussina had a better resume by b-WAR and JAWS measures and I believe it took him 6 ballots to become enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Therefore, no - it may take a while for sportswriters to warm up to CC Sabathia. As for Ichiro Suzuki, I can't fathom any scenario where he isn't a first ballot Hall of Famer. Period. 

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Mike Whiteman - I believe Ichiro Suzuki cruises to election next year, and there is the "100% voting  discussion" along the way. He was an iconic player, and I'm excited to see him in the plaque gallery. 

I think CC Sabathia is a Hall of Famer, but I think he takes the "scenic route" of about three to four years to enshrinement. I see him garnering a healthy 50%-60% of the vote next year. 

I think Beltran and Jones advance on the ballot in 2025, but come up a bit short. I see both as eventual Hall of Famers. I'm rooting for Pettite and Abreu, but see their eventual opportunity for Cooperstown running through one of the committees.

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Derek McAdam - While C.C. Sabathia was a very good pitcher, I don’t think he is a lock to enter into the Hall of Fame in his first year. However, I do think Ichiro will get in next year. 

As for the other Yankees, I think Andruw Jones is the closest to getting in, but I still think he may come up short. 

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Tamar Chalker - I think CC and Ichiro will both make it. Ichiro will get more votes. I don’t think anyone else from the Yankees will make it this round.

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Lincoln Mitchell - Ichiro will get well over 90% of the vote and get elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Sabathia is, in my view, a clear Hall of Famer, but I suspect he gets elected in his second or third year of eligibility. None of the other Yankees will get elected next year, but Beltran probably gets in a few years from now.

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Tim Kabel - I think both Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia will get in next year. They both deserve to. I think Suzuki will have the higher vote total because when you look at the things he did not in America, but in Japan, he is one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game.

I do not believe any of the others listed will make the Hall of Fame although, Andy Pettitte numbers are quite comparable to CC Sabathia’s, and he had a much better postseason career.

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James Vlietstra - Ichiro will definitely be elected, possibly unanimously. 

Sabathia will likely join him as a first year inductee, probably closer to 75-80%

None of the other former Yankees will make it.

And quite honestly, without realizing it, I have made a choice. The choice actually makes me quite sad. Once upon a time when the election cycle came around, I found myself watching Ryan Thibodaux’s Twitter account daily, curious who was going to be elected. 

The Baseball Hall of Fame has caused me to not care. I have not paid attention to the vote in quite some time. Steroids or not, the most important players from a 20 year period have not been included. These were some of my favorite players from my youth and some of the most influential players of all time. 

Some estimates are that close to 80% of the players of this era used steroids. Let’s lower that to half and say 40%.   That means 10 from every single team’s active roster of 25.  That means there’s already probably dozens of players already in the Hall that used. 

Until these guys are inducted, I don’t think I will pay too much attention to what happens way up in Cooperstown. 

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Andy Singer - I think that Ichiro is the only absolute "lock" to get into the HOF next year. Based on the necessity to change the standards for starting pitchers, I think CC has a chance, but it may take a year or two. Otherwise, I think Andruw Jones is the only other guy with a realistic shot.

(Editor's Note (Paul Semendinger) - as you know I'm away from the site this week. I scheduled this article in advance. I won't be able to debate this with people today, but I believe James makes a tremendous point here. The writers and caretakers of the Hall, by excluding the greats from an entire generation of fans, have made many of those fans care less about the institution itself. In their efforts to protect the Hall of Fame from the "cheaters," they've actually harmed it by distancing those hallowed halls from a generation of fans who don't care about the Hall of Fame today because it has said (through the voting for a long time now) that the players they care about and the time they were fans doesn't matter. They're told that they were wrong to root for those greats and that the time they were fans isn't worth celebrating. I plan to dive into this topic in much more detail one day in the future. It's a tremdous point - extremely insightful. In the effort of the caretakers to help the Hall, they've actually harmed it - distancing the place from a generation of would-be fans.)

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