CC Sabathia’s anticipated election to the Baseball Hall of Fame will hopefully encourage people to think differently regarding the achievements of starting pitchers.

To no surprise, Ichiro Suzuki headlined the class with the most votes of any player this year. The 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and MVP was a 10-time MLB All-Star before he retired in 2019. Earlier this month, he also became the first MLB player to enter the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

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

Sabathia, Suzuki and Wagner join Dave Parker and the late Dick Allen, who were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee to comprise the Hall’s Class of 2025.

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.

When it’s all said and done, many of us hope that our lives will not be defined by only a title or achievement. Legacies are crafted by countless moments, including the small ones witnessed by a handful of people.

CC Sabathia adds another C to his name now, for Cooperstown, now that he becomes the latest great Yankee to become a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

The former ace lefty earned the prestigious honor in his first year of eligibility. He spent 7 1/2 of his 19 seasons with the Tribe, winning the AL Cy Young in 2007.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.