Surrounded at his Alpine NJ home by family and friends, CC Sabathia hopes his legacy as a teammate lives on with Baseball Hall of Fame election.

Seattle Mariners legend and Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki tries to hold back his tears after his team announced his jersey retirement.

The elite echelon of Seattle Mariners players grew larger on Jan. 21 when it was announced that Ichiro Suzuki would be one of three 2025 National Base

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.

A leadoff hitter, an ace starter and a lockdown closer walk into a Hall … It’s no joke. The National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 is complete after Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner

It was no surprise that former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) on his first ballot. While Ichiro had an outstanding career in his own right, he was not the only first-ballot Hall of Famer selected to Cooperstown this year.

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.

That was one of the best debut seasons ever. Ichiro was an All-Star and won a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove award in right field. He not only coasted to the Rookie of the Year award but narrowly surpassed Jason Giambi to win the MVP. He joined Fred Lynn as the only rookies to be named the Most Valuable Player.

The Seattle Mariners lead all organizations with seven prospects in Baseball America's initial 2025 Top 100 rankings.

Former New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who spent 11 of his 19 big league seasons in pinstripes, officially joined the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of

Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2025. The final results were unveiled Tuesday