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.

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

CC Sabathia has made it clear he wants to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a New York Yankee, calling the organization his home. He was welcomed to baseball’s most prestigious club by his former teammate Derek Jeter and joins another in Mariano Rivera. There is no shortage of Yankees in Cooperstown.

The New York Yankees are the winningest team in Major League Baseball history, and they have had countless household names play for them over the years. From Hall of Famers to current superstars, the Yankees have it all when it comes to talented players over the years.

CC Sabathia’s career ended abruptly. Yes, the longtime Yankees left-hander had announced months earlier his plans to retire after the 2019 season, but his final appearance did not go as ceremoniously as Derek Jeter’s or Mariano Rivera’s.

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.

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

In electing Wagner, the BBWAA has defined the modern-day closer as its own entity, with candidates’ credentials measured not against the whole of the body but against this specific peer group.

Ichiro Suzuki, the first Japanese-born player elected to Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, reacted humorously Thursday to the one vote that he did not secure. The voting results Tuesday showed Ichiro coming up one vote shy of becoming the second player to be unanimously voted into the hall after former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to check off his name on the Hall of Fame ballot.