{"id":207452,"date":"2025-07-28T00:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/207452\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T00:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:22:11","slug":"our-5-favorite-lessons-from-ichiro-cc-sabathia-and-the-2025-baseball-hall-of-fame-inductees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/207452\/","title":{"rendered":"Our 5 favorite lessons from Ichiro, CC Sabathia and the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0This story is part of Peak, The Athletic\u2019s desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the lens of sports. Follow Peak\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted five new members<\/a>, each from different backgrounds with different specialties and their own unique experiences to draw from. This year\u2019s batch included \u2026<\/p>\n

Ichiro Suzuki: A habitual, dedicated student of the game who had already visited Cooperstown several times to soak up the Hall of Fame\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

CC Sabathia: A three-sport high school athlete from California who once took out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer after he was traded to thank fans for their support.<\/p>\n

Billy Wagner: The first left-handed relief pitcher and first baseball player from a Division III school to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Dave Parker: A confident athlete from Cincinnati who once played a game with a hockey goalie\u2019s mask after fracturing his cheekbone and jaw.<\/p>\n

Dick Allen: The second youngest of nine children who was also the lead singer for the Ebonistics, a popular doo-wop group he created while he played for the Phillies.<\/p>\n

There are countless lessons from these Hall of Famers\u2019 careers and the uncommon situations and special moments they experienced along the way. After listening to them and their loved ones on Sunday, here are my favorites:<\/p>\n

Billy Wagner: \u201cObstacles are not a roadblock, obstacles are stepping stones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes you just need an opportunity, and sometimes you\u2019ll need to create that opportunity yourself.<\/p>\n

Wagner, who was naturally right-handed, broke his right arm twice when he was 7. But his parents reminded him to never let circumstances define him, so he taught himself to throw with his left arm while his right healed.<\/p>\n

As a high school senior, he was 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds. His smaller size contributed to him being overlooked by scouts and colleges. So instead, he attended Ferrum College, a Division III school, where he played baseball and football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI refused to give up, or give in, and I refused to listen to the outside critics and never stopped working,\u201d he said in his speech.<\/p>\n

Initially a starting pitcher with the Astros\u2019 organization, Wagner transitioned to the bullpen following a call-up to the big leagues. The shift forced him to adjust his pitching style and what he was comfortable with, but he turned the challenge into an opportunity and became one of the best closers in baseball history.<\/p>\n

To Wagner, every obstacle made him stronger because of the hard work he needed to put in to rise above it. And he embraced that.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Obstacles) build you and shape you, refine you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dave Parker: Relationships matter most<\/p>\n

Parker\u2019s son, David Parker II, delivered the speech his father always wanted to give, just one month after his death. But we were lucky enough to still hear from Parker himself, as his son closed the speech by reading a poem his father wrote for the ceremony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I had to wait a little, but that\u2019s what you do with fine-age wine,\u201d Parker joked in the poem.<\/p>\n

Parker\u2019s son took us on a journey through his father\u2019s life and career. And it slowly became apparent that for Parker, milestones and accolades were always wrapped together by relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see these legends?\u201d he\u2019d say to his son. \u201cI see old friends.\u201d He\u2019d have the same perspective even when meeting fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not fans, they\u2019re friends,\u201d he\u2019d remind his son. \u201cForever friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he learned how to \u201clove like a Major League Baseball player\u201d from players like Roberto Clemente and held onto that gratitude throughout his career, choosing to see his teammates for who they were as people, not just players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough all the individual teams and accomplishments he enjoyed during his 11 seasons with Pittsburgh,\u201d his son said, \u201cthe moments surrounded by teammates and mentors, that meant the most to my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dick Allen: Stay curious<\/p>\n

Allen died in 2020, so his wife, Willa, spoke for him. In her speech, she talked about a unique part of Allen\u2019s personality: His curiosity and where that took him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was obsessed with understanding the \u2018why,\u2019\u201d Willa Allen said.<\/p>\n

To Allen, baseball wasn\u2019t a job, it was a gift, because it served as a tool for many things: to express talent, enjoy the game, and handle the great responsibility of being a professional. But most importantly, it was a gift to learn.<\/p>\n

He would ask himself questions.<\/p>\n

Why did we lose? Why didn\u2019t that play work?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a game within the game,\u201d is a saying his wife remembers him reciting often.<\/p>\n

One of the best parts about Allen\u2019s curiosity? The way he made sure to break down all his findings with his teammates, too, wanting them to see value in taking the time to notice things that others might miss.<\/p>\n

CC Sabathia: Fear is temporary<\/p>\n

Sabathia\u2019s speech was hardly about baseball and almost entirely about family. He began by prefacing that he would be reaching out to people personally to thank them, but wanted to use his Hall of Fame speech simply to praise his loved ones.<\/p>\n

And if a hug could be put into words, that\u2019s what this speech felt like. He explained that it was by leaning on the \u201cvillage of women\u201d who raised him, his wife, Amber, his teammates and his kids, that he accomplished what he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so homesick that I would go to the phone booth every night and call home,\u201d he said of his rookie days in North Carolina. \u201cI would have quit right then if I could have kept my money and my mom and Amber didn\u2019t spend all night talking me through my fears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabathia explained that there is always something on the other side of the storm, and those who are closest to you are the ones who can help you see that.<\/p>\n

Ichiro Suzuki: Pay attention to the small things<\/p>\n

In his speech, Ichiro reminisced about the first time he ran onto the field as a 27-year-old rookie for the Seattle Mariners. He said he felt \u201cin awe\u201d of the competition and thought about the criticism he heard from fans and media before the game about his chances of succeeding in the major leagues.<\/p>\n

But he said his preparation gave him the confidence to reframe his thinking at that moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew if I stuck to my belief about preparation, I could overcome the doubts, even my own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To Suzuki, taking responsibility for yourself in that way means paying attention to the small stuff. He found comfort in routinely fixating on the little things he could do better. For example, he talked about cleaning his spikes and traveling with his bats in a humidor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I continued to set my goals, I also came to understand that consistency would be the foundation to achievement,\u201d he said. \u201cUnderstand the difference between a dream and a goal. In order to make a dream your goal, you must be honest in thinking about what is important to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb \/ The Athletic; Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0This story is part of Peak, The Athletic\u2019s desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,49,50,51,54,58,4,62,166,25,64,65,165],"class_list":{"0":"post-207452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago-white-sox","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians","12":"tag-houston-astros","13":"tag-miami-marlins","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-new-york-yankees","16":"tag-peak","17":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","18":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","19":"tag-seattle-mariners","20":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114928008852847333","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}