The Hall of Fame introduced the newest members of its Class of 2025 -- Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner -- live from Cooperstown on Thursday.

The trio all donned matching Hall of Fame jerseys and caps and shared their thoughts on being elected to the Hall.

"I've come to the Hall of Fame as a player seven times," Ichiro said, via interpreter Alan Turner. "This is my eighth time here at the Hall of Fame, and what an honor it is for me to be here as a Hall of Famer. This is just a very special moment."

The Japanese legend, who finished his career with 3,089 hits, was elected with 99.7% of the vote, and fell just one vote shy of being the second unanimous Hall of Famer after Mariano Rivera. Ichiro even joked about the one writer who left him off the ballot.

"I was able to receive many votes from the writers, and I'm grateful for them -- but there was one writer that I wasn't able to get a vote from," Ichiro said. "I would like to invite him over to my house, and we'll have a drink together, and we'll have a good chat."

Sabathia joined Suzuki as a first-ballot Hall of Famer after collecting 3,093 strikeouts in his career with Cleveland, the Brewers and the Yankees. Sabathia, who will wear a Yankees cap on his Hall of Fame plaque, recalled how he quickly came to feel at home in the Bronx after coming to the Yankees in 2009, when he led them to their 27th World Series championship.

"Two or three days into Spring Training, me and Andy [Pettitte] are running in the outfield. I get a chance to meet [Derek] Jeter, we're hanging out. The pitching staff, we're going to dinners and we're going to basketball games together -- so it didn't take long at all before I felt like this was the right decision to make," Sabathia said. "I'm super excited that I had a chance to play 11 years in the Bronx with that uniform on, and I'm excited to have that hat on my plaque, for sure."

Sabathia also reflected on his many years competing against Ichiro when he was in Cleveland and Ichiro was on the Mariners, before the two eventually united as teammates in New York.

In 2006, Sabathia learned from Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis how to throw his slider, which became his signature breaking ball. Sabathia's first start with his new pitch was in Seattle.

"I was like, 'Oh, this thing is awesome. I'm taking this right into the game.' And we go to Seattle my next start, and I take it to the game, and I get to two strikes on Ichi ¡­ and he hits it off the window," Sabathia said with a laugh.

Ichiro's next at-bat, Sabathia tried the slider one more time.

"I throw it to him again, first pitch. ¡­ He hits it out again," Sabathia said. "He was one of the best players of our generation. I always loved battling him."

The respect between the two of them was mutual, both when they were opponents and teammates.

"Of course, he was an opponent, so he was an enemy, but he was somebody that I really enjoyed watching and also facing, because of the fact that he was such a professional up there," Ichiro said of Sabathia in his Guardians days.

And when they were both on the Yankees, Ichiro said Sabathia ¡°was somebody that we wanted to win for. We wanted to make sure CC got a win. He was just that type of player, that made us really want to win for him."

Wagner was one of the most dominant closers of all time, finishing his career with 422 saves, a 2.31 ERA and the highest K/9 (11.9) and strikeout rate (33.2%) among pitchers who threw as many innings as he did. But it took him until his 10th and final year on the ballot to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

The flamethrowing left-hander reflected on his emotional journey to the Hall.

"It's special ¡­ to be on this stage where you're with greats," a tearful Wagner said. "It's humbling. I don't know if it's deserving. But to sit out there for 10 years and have your career scrutinized, it's tough. The 10th year was, to be expected, the toughest. But as I'm sitting here, it was worth it.

"It's never been easy for me to do anything. So to get here in 10 tries, it's a blessing. It's really emotional. I hope that people look back, and they see the endurance it took to deal with these things. I hope kids see that there is a chance that you can get here, and it is possible, and the size and where you're from doesn't matter. I think Pedro [Martinez] said it first: 'If I can get here, anyone can get here.' And I'm just very humbled. Those 10 years makes you reflect on a lot of the battles you had to fight to get here."

Wagner and Sabathia took a tour of the Hall of Fame museum earlier on Thursday. It made Wagner reflect on his place in the story of baseball.

"You're looking at the names on the [plaques] as you go through, and you just realize how much bigger the game really is, and if you really, truly belong in this," Wagner said. "It's fascinating just to be part of the history of this, and it just puts you into a really small space when you realize that you're standing there with the Mickey Mantles and Joe DiMaggios and Sandy Koufaxes. It really makes you feel humble."