Is it possible for Ichiro Suzuki to be the second player ever unanimously voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum? Will Billy Wagner get the five votes he missed last year to gain entry in his final year of eligibility? Can CC Sabathia make it to Cooperstown on his first attempt?
As we await the Jan. 21 announcement of the Hall of Fame voting results, all three scenarios are being considered.
The voting is done by the nearly 400 eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America; all 151 ballots tracked on Ryan Thibodaux’s Baseball Hall of Fame tracker have Suzuki’s name checked.
So far, only Mariano Rivera has been unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame – not Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr., or Derek Jeter, only Rivera. Could Suzuki be the second?
Thibodaux mentioned that we won’t know until after the results are official.
Jeter missed one ballot in 2020 and Griffey three in 2016.
Suzuki isn’t the only candidate expected to be inducted. Sabathia has received 140 votes, or 92.7%, a good sign for the first-time nominee.
Wagner, in his final year on the ballot, is trending towards induction, with 84.1% on public ballots as of Tuesday afternoon.
In addition, Carlos Beltrán received 79.5% of the vote and Andruw Jones fell just short at 74.2%.
Looking ahead, next year’s first-time eligible class doesn’t have any players with a career bWAR of 60 or more like Suzuki and Sabathia.
Andy Pettitte and Félix Hernández also stand to benefit from Sabathia’s strong support.
Of the 14 first-time eligible players, seven haven’t received any public votes yet. Only Suzuki, Sabathia, Hernández, and Dustin Pedroia have secured the 5% needed to remain on the ballot.
Keeping an eye on both the 75% needed for induction and the 5% needed to stay on the ballot is crucial in the voting process.
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)