Latest news with #Cooperstown
New York Times
6 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Baseball Hall of Fame tiers: Which active players are on their way to Cooperstown?
It's Hall of Fame weekend — for Ichiro Suzuki, for CC Sabathia, for Billy Wagner and for two men who will be missed on that podium, Dick Allen and Dave Parker. We'll be talking and writing about all of them in the coming days. We promise. But this is a different kind of Hall of Fame column — because it's time for that question I love to ask every July, as induction weekend arrives: Which active players will join them someday in the Baseball Hall of Fame's hallowed plaque gallery? Advertisement This is the third straight year I've written about this. And we're starting to get the impression it's a topic you care about, too – if those 1,100 reader comments on last year's column are telling us anything. So what do you say we make this an annual tradition? Everyone good with that? Great. Let's do this. Again. As usual, I'm dividing these players into tiers. Then I'll do my best to explain why I placed them in those tiers. Then I'll pretty much duck for cover as you explain to me why I got this so wrong. Thanks in advance for the input! Ready? Cool. Here we go. Clayton Kershaw Justin Verlander Max Scherzer Mike Trout Freddie Freeman Mookie Betts* Aaron Judge* (*new to the In Right Now Club) Bryce Harper Nolan Arenado Manny Machado Paul Goldschmidt Shohei Ohtani* Jose Altuve* (*new to the Red Zone) José Ramírez Francisco Lindor Juan Soto Chris Sale Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Gerrit Cole Carlos Correa Adley Rutschman Yordan Alvarez Jacob deGrom Zack Wheeler Paul Skenes* (*first time in this column) Kenley Jansen Aroldis Chapman Josh Hader Emmanuel Clase* (*first time in this column) Salvador Perez J.T. Realmuto Cal Raleigh* Will Smith* (*first time in this column) Ronald Acuña Jr. Alex Bregman Rafael Devers Corey Seager Kyle Tucker Trea Turner Corbin Carroll Cody Bellinger Xander Bogaerts Christian Yelich Corbin Burnes Matt Chapman Bobby Witt Jr. Julio Rodríguez Fernando Tatis Jr. Gunnar Henderson Tarik Skubal Elly De La Cruz James Wood Pete Crow-Armstrong Joey Votto All right. Now let's dig in on how I came up with all that. We have two new members of this club. One is Mookie Betts, who was still hanging out in the Red Zone last year. The other is Aaron Judge, who just long-jumped over everyone and is breaking all the rules for what a mortal-lock Hall of Famer has looked like. That's just how we roll on this list. Everything about Hall of Fame voting is changing, so get on board! Advertisement THE ACES: I've been at this for three years, and it can still be a challenge to figure out which players get dropped into which tiers. But not if their names are Kershaw, Verlander and Scherzer. You know where Clayton Kershaw ranks, in WHIP and Adjusted ERA+, among all starters in the live-ball era with at least 2,000 innings pitched? In first place would be a good guess. Is a guy like that a Hall of Famer? Seems likely! Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer own three Cy Young Awards apiece. Do three-time Cy Youngs seem like Hall of Famers? Hmmm. Seems like it. Please address all your Roger Clemens questions to the Mitchell Report. Thank you. TROUT: Maybe you're one of those people who think Mike Trout has spent so much time not playing over these last five seasons, he must have plummeted into some lower, Not In Yet tier. C'mon. Really? Just to put his place in history in perspective, here's a partial list of some of the legends Trout has passed on Baseball Reference's career wins above replacement leaderboard just over those last five seasons: Chipper Jones Ken Griffey Jr. Joe DiMaggio Johnny Bench So at one month shy of 34, Trout is up to 86.8 WAR, according to Baseball Reference. And everybody at that level or above is already a Hall of Famer, unless they're A) tied to performance-enhancing drugs or B) Albert Pujols, who doesn't arrive on the ballot until 2028. In other words, enjoy watching this man play baseball while you can. He's 33, and already an inner-circle Hall of Famer. Let's focus on that, OK? FREEMAN: I know it's been a frustrating couple of months for Freddie Freeman, who'd spent his first 15 seasons as the most consistent hitter of his generation. But I handed Freeman a membership to the In Right Now Club last year. That's not the kind of honor I have any reason to take back. Advertisement In columns like this, we don't focus on two-month slumps. We focus on big-picture achievements like this — our handy dandy rundown of all the first basemen in history with at least 2,300 hits, 350 homers, 500 doubles and an Adjusted OPS+ of 140 or better: Lou Gehrig Albert Pujols Freddie Freeman Cool club. Now add in that World Series MVP trophy Freeman won last October, plus a regular-season MVP award, five top-five finishes and eight top-10s. So is there any debate? Every first baseman who has had Freddie Freeman's career wound up giving a speech in Cooperstown. I can't wait for his. BETTS: A year ago in this space, Mookie was still calling plays in the Red Zone. But this just in: He can spike that football, because according to the proper authorities — by which I mean me — he has crossed that goal line. Again, don't get distracted by all his troubles this season, because you know where Mookie now ranks in Baseball Reference's WAR among all active players? That would be second, behind only that Trout guy. So at this point, everyone in the live-ball era with as many career wins above replacement as him (72.6) is a Hall of Famer, except for men who aren't on the ballot yet or the usual PED suspects. Yeah, I know he has 'only' 1,700 career hits. And any number lower than 2,000 used to prevent us from saying we were watching a sure-fire Hall of Famer. But not anymore — not if you got the memo that those old-fangled counting numbers are no longer what they used to be. And that's an even bigger factor for our other new entrant in the In Right Now Club, a man named … JUDGE: Aaron Judge hasn't even made it to 1,200 hits, you say? Doesn't matter. You say he might not drive in or score his 1,000th run until 2027? So what? You say there has never been a future Hall of Fame outfielder in American League/National League history with this few hits, runs and RBIs at age 33? Whatever! I booted Judge up two categories this year and tush-pushed him across the In Right Now line because those counting numbers, in his case, have never felt more irrelevant. Advertisement It's his 10th full season, so he's now eligible. He's within reach of his fourth 50-homer season and his third season with an OPS+ over 200. He's on the road to a third MVP award. And I've already documented why he's the greatest right-handed hitter of the last 100 years. But do you still need convincing? Then check out all the players in history with 350 homers, a career OPS+ of 170 or better and as many wins above replacement as Judge (59.6): Babe Ruth Lou Gehrig Ted Williams Mickey Mantle Barry Bonds Mike Trout Aaron Judge Any more questions? Not for me! 'Trapped in the Red Zone' sounds like a Stephen King horror flick, but it actually describes all the guys in this club who are back for the third straight year: Harper, Goldschmidt, Machado and Arenado. Mookie finally found his way out of this zone, but the other four are all still hovering at about the 3-yard line. So the big news here is our two new famous additions since last year. You've heard of them! HARPER: Is Bryce Harper heading for the Hall of Fame? Of course. But this is the third straight season he has gotten stuck in this Red Zone concourse because of an odd collection of injuries and assorted setbacks. So his counting-numbers spinner has been moving in slow motion, and that's never helpful. But Bryce is still a two-time MVP, a Rookie of the Year, an NLCS MVP and a proud owner of a massive big-game highlight reel, all by age 32. So he won't be trapped in Red Zone limbo forever. It's just that sometimes in baseball, limbo happens. GOLDSCHMIDT: I love Paul Goldschmidt. I almost elevated him into the 'In' club each of the last two years. But I'm still not quite there, despite his bounce-back season in the Bronx. OK, I know what some of you are thinking: Yes, I pronounced Joey Votto as 'already in' last year — and Goldschmidt's numbers are strikingly similar to Votto's. But Votto sits above Goldschmidt in every category on the slash line, and was a seven-time on-base percentage champ who reached base more and struck out less. So that's a separator I couldn't get past. Advertisement But a first baseman who has now blown past 64 WAR, is 30 homers away from 400 and might even join Jeff Bagwell in the 200-Steal, 300-Homer Club is grinding his way toward Cooperstown. Can he steam across that goal line by next year this time? I'll let you know. ARENADO AND MACHADO: I think it helps these two guys that Adrian Beltré and Scott Rolen have restarted the parade of Hall of Fame third basemen over the last two years. So Nolan Arenado and Manny Machado are just waiting for their parade floats to arrive. It won't be long. Arenado is now two seasons removed from his rock star peak. But that peak was a 10-year run that has literally never been matched by any third baseman not named Mike Schmidt: 10 Gold Gloves, three home run titles, five top-10 MVP finishes and a web gem highlight reel I could watch all day. So no Coors Field asterisks are going to keep him out of the Hall. Then there's Machado, who is still an elite defender and producer at age 33. He beat Arenado to 2,000 hits and 60 WAR. But otherwise, their Cooperstown cases are remarkably close. So if they don't both power across that goal line by the time I write this column next year, I'll be shocked. OHTANI: At this point, does anyone think the amazing Shohei isn't going to the Hall of Fame? He's the most talented human ever to play baseball. He fires off so many unreal, unprecedented feats that he's now a human history museum. And by the time he's through, he might collect more MVP trophies than Michael Jordan and LeBron James combined (that's 10 by the way). So why is this man 'only' in the red zone? Because it takes 10 seasons in Major League Baseball to qualify for Cooperstown eligibility. And this is just Year 8 for Ohtani. So he's on the clock. See you in 2027. ALTUVE: Of course, I saved the most 'fun' name for last. Yes, it's true that Jose Altuve was a 2017 Astro. I know that's enough to convict him of heinous guilt by association for many of you out there. Advertisement Feel free to overlook the evidence that there were fewer instances of trash-can banging during Altuve at-bats than during those of any regular on that 2017 team. Feel free to boo him, ignore him and/or devalue his career if that makes you happy. Just allow me to point out that Altuve is now well down the road to the Hall. Here are all the second basemen in history with at least 200 steals, 300 homers and a .300 career average: Roberto Alomar (Hall of Famer), Altuve and … oh, sorry, that's it. Now add in three batting titles, an MVP award, nine All-Star teams and 2,300 hits, and you can see where this is headed. By the time Altuve appears on a ballot, I bet Carlos Beltrán will already be a Hall of Famer. So what's the argument that Altuve won't follow him right on into the plaque gallery? I love this category, now in its second year. It's reserved just for guys with Cooperstown-worthy star power who have to park here until they've done enough to reach the Red Zone. Everyone who was in this club last year graduated. I wonder if these two men will follow their lead. RAMÍREZ: It sometimes feels as if José Ramírez has been in the big leagues longer than Rich Hill. Yet somehow, here in his 13th season, he just got his 1,600th hit — and still hasn't reached 300 homers or 300 steals. So he's not quite in Red Zone territory yet. On the other hand, only three players in history — the Bonds family and Bobby Abreu — have piled up more 20-homer, 20-steal seasons than Ramírez (seven). And by next year, he should become the first third baseman ever to reach the 300-300 Club. So he might not have sealed his Cooperstown reservations yet, but he can see the path from here. LINDOR: Francisco Lindor is still only 31, but now ranks 11th among all active position players in bWAR. Everyone above him has already been mentioned in this column. And Lindor is younger than all of them. Advertisement He has rolled up more WAR (52.4) at this age than Derek Jeter, already has as many top-10 MVP finishes at this age as Jeter (six), and he's on pace to join Alex Rodriguez as the only shortstops with at least six 30-homer seasons. So if he can avoid visiting the orthopedist and churn out more big October moments, we can see where this is headed. SOTO AND VLAD: I don't think I've ever placed two hitters as young as Juan Soto and Vlad Guerrero Jr. this high on my future Hall of Famer rankings. But you know where guys end up who pile up these sorts of numbers by age 26, right? A cool little town in upstate New York. Soto is the first hitter with over 1,000 hits and a career OPS this good (.947), through his age-26 season, since Joe DiMaggio. If Vlad hits eight more homers this season, he'll be just the third first baseman to zoom past 1,000 hits and 180 homers by his age-26 season. The others (Orlando Cepeda and Jimmie Foxx) are Hall of Famers. So if you listen closely, you can hear their chains rustling. SALE: I'll dive deeper into the murky starting-pitcher waters shortly. But now that Chris Sale finally has a Cy Young Award trophy, it feels as if he has gathered more Hall of Fame traction than any current starter not named Kershaw, Verlander or Scherzer. Do we still care about the win column? If we do, then 143 wins at age 36 is a problem for any aspiring Hall of Famer. But if we don't, then we have a whole different conversation on our hands. Who ranks No. 1 in strikeouts per nine innings among all starting pitchers in history with at least 2,000 innings pitched? Right. Sale, at 11.11. He also sits at No. 2 in the live-ball era (behind only Kershaw) in WHIP (1.049) and ERA+ (141) — with a real shot at becoming the fourth left-hander ever in the 3,000-Strikeout Club. All Chris Sale/Cooperstown debates are required to include the phrase, 'if he stays healthy.' But this makes two straight seasons of good health — and moving chains. Just sayin'. Advertisement COLE AND ALVAREZ: Gerrit Cole (reconstructed elbow) hasn't thrown a pitch in 2025. Yordan Alvarez (fractured right hand) hasn't stepped into the box since May 2. That'll stall anyone's drive. CORREA AND RUTSCHMAN: Baseball is hard. Carlos Correa and Adley Rutschman are living proof. As far as we know, Correa hasn't had a recurrence of the plantar fasciitis issues that jabbed at him in 2023-24, but he's in the middle of the roughest season of his career (.266/.319/.392/0.1 bWAR). And Rutschman, currently out with an oblique strain, hasn't been the same team-changing figure in Baltimore since he got drilled on the hand with a foul ball in June 2024. In 593 plate appearances since June 22 of last season, he's hitting .208, with the lowest slugging percentage in baseball (.328). They both had That Cooperstown Look before all this. Now … um, stay tuned. I'd have an easier time predicting the 2035 World Series winner than I would predicting what a Hall of Fame starting pitcher will look like in 2035. But here's my question: Will it look anything like these three guys? DEGROM: On one hand, Jacob deGrom has two Cy Youngs — and the only sub-1.00 WHIP (0.99) of any starter in the live-ball era with at least 1,000 innings pitched. On the other hand, he's 37 years old and still hasn't reached 100 wins. (He's at 94.) So does that mean 300 is out of reach? Discuss! WHEELER: On one hand, Zack Wheeler has been the most dominating workhorse of any full-time starter in the sport over his six seasons in Philly — ranking No. 1 in innings, WHIP and strikeout/walk ratio, and No. 2 in ERA (a tick behind the now-injured Corbin Burnes). On the other hand, if Wheeler fulfills his vow to retire when his contract runs out after 2027, he probably won't even make it to 150 wins, let alone 250. Is that a problem? Not sure anymore! Advertisement SKENES: On one hand, Paul Skenes has the most spectacular ERA (1.94) through his first 44 starts of any pitcher since earned runs became an official stat in both leagues in 1913. So nobody will dispute that we're watching greatness every time he throws a baseball. On the other hand, he pitches for a team that never wins — which means he never wins. Could that erect any barriers on his road to Cooperstown? I guess we'll find out. Are we just going to stop caring about stuff like wins and volume when we vote for the Hall in 2035? Maybe. But if not, we might not elect another starter for the next 1,000 years. Nobody in North America will be cheering louder, on Billy Wagner's induction day, than these dudes. With Wagner now in, we'll be looking at these men really closely in a few years. Don't you think? JANSEN AND CHAPMAN: I booted Craig Kimbrel out of this group, since he has faced only three big-league hitters all season, got released the next day and hasn't been seen since. But Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman are still chugging, churning out numbers and building Hall of Fame cases we can't ignore. You know another thing some voters won't ignore? These two guys have pitched in a combined 18 postseasons — but have never thrown the final pitch of a World Series. HADER AND CLASE: I try to gaze into the future when I write this column. And Closers Corner was a fun place to do that. Josh Hader and Emmanuel Clase rank fifth and sixth among all active relievers in saves (at 226 and 181, respectively) — with historic dominance to go with them. Hader is 31. Clase is 27. So they've positioned themselves perfectly for a Hall of Fame debate someday. Want to argue that Edwin Díaz (246 saves, at age 31) is also in that group? I won't argue. It just feels as if we still aren't sure what to make of closers not named Mariano. Will that change over the next decade? I look forward to finding out. Advertisement Salvador Perez and J.T. Realmuto inspired me to invent this category in last year's column. Not much has changed. They've both been in the Best Catcher in Baseball conversation for a long time. And they're a reminder that when we vote on catchers, we need to look beyond WAR to measure them, because that's not fully capturing what they've done or what they mean to their teams. So this year, I added two more names to this hot corner, because how could I not? Cal Raleigh and Will Smith are two of the most important players on anybody's team in 2025. So let's talk about them. RALEIGH: No catcher has ever hit 50 homers in a season, let alone 60. I don't know where Raleigh's home run wheel will land, but I do know he's having a season that soars beyond any catching season in history. Oh, and he's not just making an impact with his home run trots. He's also top five in baseball in Framing Runs. But more than that, he's positioning himself to hang out with the greatest offensive catchers of all time. Three seasons in a row of 30-plus homers? Only Mike Piazza has ever done that. Three 30-homer seasons, period, by age 28? That's more, over a full career, than Joe Mauer, Pudge Rodriguez and Carlton Fisk combined (two). So this conversation is just getting rolling. SMITH: Exactly one qualifying National League hitter has a batting average over .300 this season … and it's the quiet, ever-dependable catcher for the Dodgers (at .323). Only one catcher (Buster Posey, in 2012) has led the NL in average in the last 85 seasons. So if Smith keeps this up, that alone will get the voters' attention. But now that he's into his fifth straight season of steady production, and leadership of a built-for-October staff, Smith has also jumped into the Best Catcher in Baseball chat room. This makes five seasons with a bWAR better than 3.0. And the only active catcher with more is Realmuto (seven). I only use WAR as a guidepost at this position. But in this case, it's guiding me toward keeping an eye on the Cooperstown case for the second most famous Will Smith in L.A. Most of these names don't need explaining. But I have a few thoughts on these three. ACUÑA: He is still only 27. But Ronald Acuña Jr. already is the proud owner of an MVP trophy, a Rookie of the Year Award and a sizzling 142 career Adjusted OPS+. So that's a man with a Hall of Fame career just waiting to happen. But … He's also a man with two torn knee ligaments, who has stopped stealing bases (four all season) and whose career volatility means I need a little more time to see what comes next. Take a look. Advertisement Acuña in 2019-23-25 — .310 AVG, .563 SLUG Acuña in all other years — .273 AVG, .498 SLUG TATIS: The talent and charisma of Fernando Tatis Jr. can be so dazzling to behold, he jumps off the diamond at you. And you don't run across many guys who have had this career at this age (26) — with 25.5 bWAR, 143 homers, 114 steals and a Platinum Glove. In fact, only three Hall of Famers had 100 homers, 100 steals and a Gold Glove by Tatis' age: Ken Griffey Jr., Willie Mays and Andre Dawson. But there's also this — Tatis before and after his 2022 PED suspension: 2019-21 — 160 OPS+ 2023-25 — 120 OPS+ So what is he doing on that Get Back to Me list? That's what! SKUBAL: I could have dropped Tarik Skubal into Starters Corner, but he fits here even better. He's towering over the sport right now, and it feels as if we could almost hand him his second Cy Young Award right now. So what does that mean, when any pitcher wins two Cys in a row? Excellent question. Here are the only other starters who have won back-to-back Cy Youngs by age 28: Greg Maddux (three in a row, at 26-27-28), Pedro Martinez (also at age 27-28) and Clayton Kershaw (at age 25-26). Whoa! That's some Cooperstown-worthy star power right there. But the non-Cy Young portion of Skubal's career looks very different from those guys' careers, because he got rolling so late in life. And he's well aware of that. Earlier this year, I engaged him in a fun conversation about acehood — that led to him asking me how many career wins he had. He was in the 40s then. He's up to 51 now. Then I told him that Maddux had 131 at this age. 'Shoot,' he said, although that wasn't the exact expletive he spit out. 'Then I've got my work cut out for me. Maybe we can start talking about it when I get to 100.' In other words, he'd even put himself in the Get Back to Me Club. Advertisement I could keep going here. But I'll leave you to chew on these last three lists on your own, because if you listen intently, you can hear them speaking for themselves. And remember, if — haha, did I just say if? — you have any disagreements with any of this, you know where to direct them! Giancarlo Stanton Andrew McCutchen Luis Arraez Pete Alonso Kyle Schwarber Max Fried Shane Bieber Matt Olson Yu Darvish Marcus Semien (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Todd Kirkland, Harry How, Sarah Stier, Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Japan Times
Hall of Fame always held deeper meaning for Ichiro
One of the things Ichiro Suzuki has noted about the National Baseball Hall of Fame is how hard it is to get there. The Hall is located in Cooperstown, New York, over a three-hour drive from Manhattan and more than an hour's drive from the nearest airport and train station. It is, to say the least, off the beaten path. Few active players ever visit, and many Hall of Famers made their first trip only after being elected. Ichiro, as he is in many ways, is the outlier, having visited so often that he could probably lead the tour that new inductees receive. 'I don't think before I came here I realized how rare that is,' Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch said. 'I guess I figured a good amount of guys in the offseason, if they happen to live in the northeast or if they are visiting family during the offseason, that they would make a stop by here. 'But one of the things that Ichiro said many years ago, that I think he's said better than most people, is that part of what makes Cooperstown special is that it's not easy to get to. That you have to actually put an effort into going there, and that it would be different if it was, say, in New York City, where anybody from around the world visits and could go there. This requires wanting to go to Cooperstown. It's not on the way to anything. It's not the sort of place that you accidentally come across. I think once I knew that was the way he looked at it, it made it even more special.' Ichiro will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame on Sunday after being elected in his first year on the ballot — he garnered 99.7% of the vote, coming a single vote away from being a unanimous selection. He is the first Japanese player elected. His induction comes as no surprise. Ichiro hit .311 over 19 MLB seasons and finished with 3,089 hits. The 2001 American League MVP broke the single-season hits record in 2004 and compiled 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons from 2001 to 2010, an MLB record. There is no greater honor in baseball than being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Only 351 people have been elected — 278 former players, 40 executives and pioneers, 23 managers and 10 umpires. The annual induction ceremony is usually filled with emotion as the inductees, often tearfully, reflect on their journeys and take their place in baseball history. For Ichiro, who will be inducted alongside CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, the Hall seems to hold an even deeper meaning. While players visiting Cooperstown is rare, Ichiro made seven trips during his career. 'I think for Ichiro, it was about understanding everything about his craft, and people who are successful in their craft, no matter what that craft is, the ones who are the most successful know the most about it,' said Jeff Idelson, who served as president of the Hall from 2008 to 2019. Idelson, who later co-founded Grassroots Baseball, a nonprofit organization that released a documentary on women's baseball titled "See Her Be Her" that Ichiro was also featured in, returned on an interim basis in 2021 and was succeeded by Rawitch. "They know it inside and out. And he's someone who's always appreciated baseball history. He knew Japanese baseball history, and once he came to the States, he made it his mission to understand American baseball history and world baseball history. So the seven times he visited while I was there, every time he came, he was interested in something different with the museum.' Ichiro Suzuki speaks during a news conference at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on Jan. 23. Ichiro was elected to the Hall in his first year on the ballot. | JIJI Ichiro soaked up the history around him during each visit. On one tour, he took a particular interest in the connection between baseball and art. On another trip, his interest was piqued by equipment. 'He is really able to identify with the players from history,' Idelson said. 'Not only by holding the bats, but he can tell what the grains are like within the bat. So he can hold the bat up next to his ear and tap the bat to understand the density of the wood and the grains, and it helped him understand those players even more deeply.' The Hall was always given advance notice when Ichiro visited, and a curator accompanied him on his tours. He was given access to the back catalog, which is not available to the public, where he saw some of the rarest artifacts in baseball history. He always asked lots of questions, Idelson said. 'I really believe that his visits to Cooperstown helped him at some level, on the mental side of the game, to have a full understanding of baseball history,' Idelson said. 'Touring with him always involved a lot of depth. There was nothing superficial about his visits.' Ichiro also took an interest in artifacts from players whose records he had broken, such as George Sisler, whose 257 hits in 1920 stood as the single-season mark until Ichiro finished with 262 in 2004. Ichiro also visited Sisler's grave in St. Louis to pay his respects. 'The first time I really met him was a few years ago when he got inducted into the (Seattle) Mariners Hall of Fame,' Rawitch said. 'I went out there, and Jeff Idelson, my predecessor, and I went to dinner with him because Jeff was going to introduce us and let us spend some time together. 'That was one of the first things I wanted to know, why are you like this with the Hall of Fame? "What he talked about was just being able to feel the history. That when he would be chasing the record of someone like George Sisler, he could go, and when he touched his bat or touched his glove, he could actually feel the presence of the history that came before him.' Ichiro also holds a special place in baseball history as the first Japanese position player to play in an MLB game, and the Hall of Fame is expecting to welcome an influx of fans from Japan to watch his induction. The timing of Ichiro's induction also coincides with a new exhibition called 'Yakyu Baseball / The Transpacific Exchange of the Game' that will explore the connection between Japan and the U.S. Ichiro also donated some of his memorabilia to the exhibit. 'I think one of the things that's become very clear is just how global the game is, and what a huge part of Major League Baseball that Japan is,' Rawitch said. 'Obviously, our exhibit, Yakyu / Baseball, is gonna be a huge part of that. 'But I think when we look out at the crowd and we see international faces and Japanese flags, in a way it will be as unique as anything we've ever had.' Ichiro stands with former Mariners Edgar Martinez (middle) and Ken Griffey Jr. during a ceremony in his honor in Seattle in September 2019. | USA TODAY / VIA REUTERS Ichiro's professional journey to Cooperstown took him from the Orix BlueWave in Kobe to the Mariners, the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins before he returned to Seattle for a final curtain call. It was a long road, just like the actual trek to the Hall of Fame. When he is inducted into the Hall, Ichiro will be immortalized as a part of the history that he held in such reverence. 'I just think the game means as much to him as anything in life,' Idelson said. 'It's an important part of his DNA. There's so much baseball history that's taken place over the last 2½ centuries, it's not easy to do in one visit. 'Cooperstown also has a way of reinvigorating the spirit, or giving you a new sense of appreciation for the game. Though he never said those things, I have to think at some level, coming to the Hall of Fame really was something that had deep meaning to him. I mean, he was quoted as saying it's just like an at home feeling going to Cooperstown. "So he felt very much at home coming to Cooperstown and coming to the Hall of Fame. His induction now is truly the capstone to an incredible career.'
USA Today
18 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
When is the MLB Hall of Fame ceremony? How to watch Ichiro, Sabathia, Wagner inductions
Notoriously one of the most unforgiving Hall of Fame in sports, Cooperstown will be inducting five new members in 2025 − three elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and two by the Classic Baseball Era Committee. Since 2020, only one other Hall of Fame class has had as many members as this year's (seven in 2022), making 2025 one of the largest Cooperstown classes in recent memory. With baseball legends like Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia getting enshrined this year, the ceremony is something that no baseball fan should miss. Here's everything to know about the 2025 MLB Hall of Fame induction ceremony: MLB News: Justin Verlander finally gets first win with San Francisco Giants When is the Hall of Fame ceremony? The ceremony is set for Sunday, July 27 at 1:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on MLB Network, and the MLB app. The event will take place at the Clark Sports Center, about a mile south of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Who is being inducted? The three players inducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America are 2001 AL MVP and single-season hits record holder Ichiro Suzuki, 2007 AL Cy Young winner and member of the 3,000-strikeout club CC Sabathia, as well as seven-time All-Star closer Billy Wagner. Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee. Both men will be enshrined posthumously. Parker, who died last month, was NL MVP in 1978, won two World Series with the Pirates and Athletics, and was a two-time batting champ. Allen, who died in 2020, was named AL MVP in 1972. He's a seven-time All-Star with a career .951 OPS, sixth best of all players in the Integration Era with at least 5,000 plate appearances. The only men with better marks are Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Mike Trout, Mark McGwire and Mickey Mantle. What cap will Sabathia wear in Cooperstown? Sabathia will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a New York Yankee, the 22nd Yankee to be enshrined in Cooperstown. Sabathia spent 11 years in pinstripes, compared to 7.5 as a member of the Cleveland franchise. Sabathia won his only World Series title with the Yankees. He also finished top five in Cy Young voting in each of his first three seasons in the Bronx. The decisions for Ichiro and Wagner were much simpler as both players are best known for one team: the Mariners and Astros respectively. Parker will go into the Hall as a Pirate, while Allen will be enshrined as a member of the Phillies. MLB News: Milwaukee Brewers are an 'island of misfit toys' – and MLB's hottest team
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Induction of Ichiro has Cooperstown fretfully preparing
Mom-and-pop apparel and memorabilia stores have long lined picturesque Main Street here in the town that is home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. When visitors for this year's induction ceremony arrive in the coming week, they might find something new: Japanese-speaking interpreters to help them shop. The headliner of this year's Hall of Fame class is outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who amassed 3,089 hits in MLB and will soon become the first Japanese player enshrined in the game's hallowed museum. The number of visitors to Cooperstown, a town of a couple thousand, fluctuates with the star power of a given year's inductees. But this year presents a new wrinkle: The area has never anticipated an influx of fans from so far away. "The biggest issue I was thinking about over the winter is, like, how do we communicate?' said Vincent Carfagno, owner of the memorabilia store Seventh Inning Stretch, which is in its 31st summer and will have interpreters available Friday to Sunday. "I know we all have phones, and you can do Google Translate, but it's just easier in person if someone wants to talk about a certain piece.' Cooperstown is not home to a sizable Japanese American population. Across from Carfagno's store on Main Street is the only sushi restaurant in town. To find interpreters, Carfagno took to Facebook. "A couple of my friends knew some people,' he said. "There's a Japanese teacher and her husband that have never been here, and wanted to come anyway.' Cassandra Harrington, president of an organization that promotes tourism in the area, is printing 3,000 village and museum maps that are translated into Japanese. But she said that as far as other planned changes for new clientele, business owners do not want to make too many assumptions about what foreign visitors may seek. A confectioner was considering making fudge with sake in it, but was not sure how that would be received. "They're trying to remain culturally sensitive,' Harrington said. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum two years ago started preparing for Ichiro's induction, said the institution's president, Josh Rawitch. That work culminated this month when the Hall opened an exhibit celebrating the ways Japanese and American baseball are intertwined. Displays in "Yakyu / Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game' honor not only Ichiro, but pitcher Hideo Nomo — the second Japanese player to reach the majors — and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the most prominent player in either country today. With a budget of roughly $2.5 million, it is one of the most expensive exhibits that the nonprofit has created, Rawitch said. On a bronze cast of a baseball, fans can place their hand on the same spots that Nomo would grip the ball when throwing his signature forkball. A video-and-audio installment later shows what it is like to be in the stands for games in both countries. In one clip at Yankee Stadium, fans in the outfield seats who are known as the Bleacher Creatures chant the names of the Yankees' starters — "roll call,' the tradition is called. Then the viewer is transported to Japan, where Rakuten Eagles fans release balloons into the sky. Several items were sourced from Japan, such as a happi coat presented to Hall of Famer Lefty Gomez during a 1934 tour of the country, making for a more complicated procurement process than the Hall usually encounters when seeking artifacts on loan. But even amid the preparations, there is an air of mystery in Cooperstown in the lead-up to next Sunday's ceremony: How many fans will actually make the trek from Japan? "There's a good degree of uncertainty,' said Vincent Russo, who runs another Main Street shop, Mickey's Place, where an interpreter will be available. "Is it 5,000? Is it 10,000? Is it 1,000?' The cost to fly across the Pacific is not the only concern for travelers from Japan. After landing at one of the major airports in the New York metropolitan area, a four-hour-or-so drive awaits, some of it on back roads. "The opportunity of having the first-ever Japanese baseball player and somebody who was just so uber-popular in Japan is going to drive people here,' Rawitch said. "But I also think we have to be realistic about the fact that it is not easy to get from Tokyo to Cooperstown. And so do I imagine there's going to be tens of thousands of Japanese fans here? Probably not. But there's going to be tens of thousands of fans here, and we want to make sure that we're welcoming regardless of where they're coming from.' Most identified with the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro is not the only attraction this year. He is going into the Hall as part of a five-player class that includes CC Sabathia, a longtime New York Yankees pitcher who should attract plenty of visitors. But other forces are at play. This year's inductees were revealed Jan. 21, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated. That is significant because while everyone long expected Ichiro would receive enough votes to be inducted, most induction weekend reservations come after the announcement, according to Jay Smith, whose company Sports Travel and Tours sells licensed packages through the Hall. U.S. tourism has dropped this year, a topic at a tourism conference Smith recently attended. "The international markets that I had meetings with, they are very well aware of the downward trend of interest for people coming to the U.S. at this point,' Smith said. In the final week of June, Smith said he had about 75 people signed up for an induction package from Japan. "We thought that there would be more,' he said. The National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Coopesrtown, New York | USA TODAY / via Reuters Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame expects more than 60 media members representing about 20 Japanese news outlets to cover Ichiro's induction. But even when the Hall is trying to figure out how many U.S. attendees will arrive, a lot of guesswork is involved. The induction ceremony is not a ticketed event, and plenty of people book their trips independent of travel agencies. The Japanese American Association of New York and Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York offer a one-day tour bus from New York City on induction day at a cost of $305. But that amount, too, can be hefty, said Koji Sato, president of the association. "Because Ichiro is being inducted, that makes it very desirable to go,' said Sato, who plans to attend. "The average Japanese, let's say restaurant worker, in New York might not want to spend that much money for a day. But it all depends.' Induction weekend is not the only game in town for local businesses, which have a busy summer season with youth baseball teams playing tournaments there. But they do feel the impact of turnout, and the induction weekend headliner genuinely matters. Russo said that the year Cal Ripken Jr., the Baltimore Orioles great, went into the Hall, about 8% of his annual revenue came from induction weekend. Last year, when Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer led the class, it was under 5%. Shopkeepers here still talk about Derek Jeter's ceremony, which was supposed to be in 2020 but was delayed by the pandemic until after Labor Day in 2021. In a typical summer setting, a Yankees superstar like Jeter would have driven eye-popping sales. COVID-19 made that a painful missed opportunity. Mickey's Place has not moved many Ichiro caps yet, but Russo expects that will change over induction weekend. The greater question, he said, is how many Ichiro caps will sell after that. Will Ichiro's enshrinement draw new fans to the area? A new development nearby might help. In a few years, Hoshino Resorts, a Japanese hospitality company, is planning to open its first continental U.S. location in Sharon Springs, New York, about a half-hour away. The Hall is hoping that dovetails with its own efforts; Rawitch expects the Hall will display its new exhibit for at least five years. "Regardless of how many people show up this July, whoever does is going to go back home and say, 'Man, did you see that incredible exhibit they did in Cooperstown, and you can go see Ichiro's plaque, and there's this town that's just for baseball?'' Rawitch said. "All of that is a five- to 10-year play. It's not just about July 27.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times © 2025 The New York Times Company
New York Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
John Conklin, Designer of Fantastical Opera Sets, Dies at 88
John Conklin, a celebrated designer of scenery for opera and theater, who tapped a boundless knowledge of music and art history, as well as an instinct for disruption, to create memorable sets for New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera and, most notably, the Glimmerglass Festival in upstate New York, died on June 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y. He was 88. His death was confirmed in a statement by Glimmerglass, the nonprofit summer opera company in Cooperstown. Mr. Conklin designed the scenery — and, in some cases, the costumes — for more than 40 Glimmerglass productions, starting in 1991. He remained active with the company even after his retirement in 2008, and he served as the scenic designer for all four shows of this summer's season: 'Tosca,' 'Sunday in the Park With George,' 'The House on Mango Street' and 'The Rake's Progress.' The term 'prodigy' rarely applies to set designers, but Mr. Conklin's instincts were on full display in his youth. Growing up in Hartford, Conn., he attended symphonies and operas with his family, and by 10, he was building his own models, based on photographs he found perusing the magazine Opera News. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
