Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia and Houston Astros relief pitcher Billy Wagner were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening by the Baseball Writers Association of America, joining Classic Era electees Dave Parker and Dick Allen.
Suzuki is the first Japanese player in the Hall of Fame.
The five newcomers will be inducted July 27, 2025, in Cooperstown, New York.
Former Detroit Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillén, who played 14 MLB seasons from 1998-2011, has a relationship with Suzuki and Sabathia, but he knows Suzuki personally from their three seasons as teammates with the Mariners, from 2001-03.
Guillén, now 49, spent the final eight years of his MLB career with the Tigers, from 2004-2011. He represented the Tigers in all three of his All-Star Games, in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
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But Guillén and Suzuki met for the first time in February 1999, when Suzuki visited the Mariners’ spring training complex in Peoria, Arizona. He spent two weeks with the Mariners in spring training, thanks to a working agreement between the Mariners and Suzuki’s team in Japan, the Orix BlueWave.
Suzuki didn’t official sign with the Mariners until January 2001.
That’s when Guillén, then age 25, and Suzuki, then age 27, became teammates for Suzuki’s first MLB season after coming to the United States from Japan.
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Guillén talked to the Free Press, joining this week’s episode of the “Days of Roar” podcast, about Suzuki, Sabathia, former Tigers manager Jim Leyland and other Hall of Fame topics. (On the podcast, Guillén also discussed his career with the Tigers, his 3:30 a.m. home run and his legendary home run off Jered Weaver.)
When did you first hear the name Ichiro Suzuki, what did you think about him signing with the Mariners, and what was it like meeting him in spring training in 2001?
“I met Ichiro two years before because he was invited to the camp for spring training with the Seattle Mariners (in 1999). But two years later, he came to play with the Seattle Mariners (in 2001). He was unbelievable. To me, he has to be the next player unanimous in the Hall of Fame. He’s very special. The numbers he has, the discipline, the respect he has for the game. I never saw any player like that. He respected his teammates. He respected the fans. To me, that’s very important for a baseball player getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. He’s one of those guys. When he met a Spanish player, he’d try to speak Spanish. When he met an American player, he’d speak English. He’s a very respectful guy. To me, he’s one of the best players to ever play. He can catch the ball. He can hit the ball. He can run. He put a lot of pressure on the defense. He’s a clutch hitter, too. He’s a winner. He prepares himself before the game, for the game and for the season. He prepares himself for everything. That’s why I say he’s a very disciplined player. To me, the discipline is one of the most important things in a baseball career, in your life. He is one of those guys. You want to keep him on your team. You want to keep him as a friend. You want to keep him right next to you.”
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In 2001, Ichiro hit an American League-best .350 with an MLB-best 242 hits and an MLB-best 56 stolen bases, winning AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP. Did you expect that from Ichiro in Year 1?
“I saw him in spring training. We were hitting in the same group in batting practice. He can hit the ball far, too, for home runs. The first time I saw him in spring training, I said he was going to be a very, very special player. He’s disciplined, and he is very smart, too. When you have the discipline, you can do whatever you want to do.”
Ichiro had more than 200 hits in 10 seasons in a row, from 2001-2010. For context, future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera only had more than 200 hits one time in his 21-year MLB career, with 205 in 2012. How was Ichiro able to get so many hits?
“It’s very, very difficult for a player to play every day. It’s very, very difficult for a player to play more than 10 years in the big leagues. He’s one of those guys. It’s the discipline. He had his routine before the game. That makes a lot of difference when you can be consistent every day, doing what you need to do. That made the difference. He was one of those guys. He prepared himself every day. He prepared himself for the long season. And he never struck out. He put the ball in play. He hit a lot of infield hits. He prepared his body to be fast all the time, to put pressure on the defense. He was a very special player because he got the talent, he got the mentality, he got the discipline. He had everything. That’s why he hit 200 hits for 10 years.”
Do you know your numbers against CC Sabathia?
“I don’t know the numbers. The only thing I know is he was very, very aggressive.”
Do you want to know your numbers?
“Yes, please.”
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You hit .295 with one home run, three walks, seven strikeouts and a .727 OPS across 48 plate appearances against CC Sabathia throughout your MLB career. You faced him the most in 2006-07, hitting .318 across 22 plate appearances.
“Well, I remember CC. He was a fastball pitcher. He was a big guy. We were in the same (AL Central) division when he played back then for the Cleveland Indians. I had to be aggressive early in the count. When you got to two strikes, you got in trouble. He threw hard. He was 6-feet-6, a big guy, lefty, throwing 96, 97, 98 miles per hour with a big backdoor slider, so you had to be early in the count aggressive. That was the biggest difference for me in those years. He’s a good teammate, a good guy in the clubhouse. But he was one of the best pitchers I faced.”
Sabathia is one of just 15 pitchers in MLB history to reach 250 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. We know Ichiro is a lock, but why should Sabathia join Ichiro as a Hall of Famer on his first ballot?
“Numbers talk. When you got the numbers, you can tell. When you don’t have numbers, you’re going nowhere. That’s CC. He threw a lot of innings. To me, that was the key. If you throw a lot of innings, you’re going to have good numbers.”
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Former Tigers manager Jim Leyland was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 class. What was it like playing for Jim Leyland in the final six of eight years during your career with the Tigers, from 2006-11?
“I would like to say thank God for putting me in those hands. To me, Jim Leyland was one of the most special manager I played for. I learned a lot from Jim. He talked a lot with the players. He gave you the confidence. He knows the game. He’s very aggressive. The most important thing, to me, was keeping the chemistry in the clubhouse. He talked to us before batting practice and played cards. He was funny, too. He was so funny. He gave you a lot of confidence. That’s good for young guys. I think that’s why he was so successful in his career. That’s why he’s in (the Hall of Fame) right now. He deserves it. He brought to TigerTown a lot of good things. He loved Detroit, and he loved baseball. He won the World Series with the Marlins (in 1997). He managed a players like Barry Bonds. To me, the best thing that happened to me was playing with Jim.”
Carlos Beltran is expected to join the Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 class. (He received 70.3% of the vote on his third of 10 ballots in 2025, falling just shy of the 75% needed for induction.) You and Beltran made your MLB debuts in 1998: You were with the Mariners; Beltran was with the Kansas City Royals. Back then, how much did you know about him?
“I knew about him because he was on Baseball America — that he was going to be a special player. I started following him. He was a very, very special player. He can play. He’s a very, very nice person, too. We didn’t play together, but when we played against Carlos, you have to be careful when he comes up to hit. He was a clutch hitter, too. To me, that’s very important for a player trying to go to the Hall of Fame. When you are a clutch hitter and clutch player, you want players like that on your team. It makes your team different. That’s why he was so successful in the playoffs and during the season. I think he should be a Hall of Famer.”
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Ichiro wasn’t your only famous teammate with the Mariners. You were teammates with Alex Rodriguez in 1998, 1999 and 2000, but your first full season in the big leagues was 2000. That year, Rodriguez hit .316 with 41 home runs while playing shortstop for the Mariners. What was it like watching him do that?
“All of those (elite) players, they’re very, very similar on the field and in the clubhouse and in the offseason. Alex is a guy who worked hard every day to be in this position, where he is right now. He was very smart. He was always talking about hitting every day — on the bus, on the plane, in the clubhouse, at breakfast. He was always talking about hitting and about baseball, every day and all the time. If you went with A-Rod to lunch, he would talk to you about baseball and what pitchers we were going to face that day. When you’re on the plane, he had all of the videos for the next series of the pitchers. That’s what made him a very, very special player. He was a very, very disciplined player. He was young. He got the talent. He knew he could do a lot of good things in baseball. He is one of the best players. To me, the best player to ever play.”
Alex Rodriguez is one of the greatest players in MLB history, but he also was suspended by MLB for the use and possession of performance-enhancing drugs. Does he deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? (He received 37.1% of the vote on his fourth of 10 ballots in 2025, needing 75%.)
“Yes, to me, he should be in the Hall of Fame. Back then, I didn’t know about steroids. I didn’t know about it. But things happen. Everybody makes a mistake. Some players in the Hall of Fame, they made a mistake. We are human. To me, he should be on the list.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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In a recent interview with MLB Network, former Detroit Tigers player Carlos Guillen shared his thoughts on the potential Hall of Fame induction of two of his former teammates, Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia.
Guillen had nothing but praise for Ichiro, calling him a “once-in-a-generation talent” and stating that he believes the Japanese outfielder deserves to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Ichiro, who retired from MLB in 2019 with over 3,000 hits and a career batting average of .311, is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game.
When it came to Sabathia, Guillen was equally effusive in his praise, describing the left-handed pitcher as a “true workhorse” and a “dominant force on the mound.” Sabathia, who retired in 2019 after 19 seasons in the majors, finished his career with 251 wins and over 3,000 strikeouts, solidifying his case for Hall of Fame induction.
As the baseball world eagerly awaits the 2025 Hall of Fame vote, it seems likely that both Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia will receive the recognition they deserve for their outstanding careers. And if Guillen’s words are any indication, their former teammate will be cheering them on every step of the way.
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