Former Major League Baseball left-handed closer Billy Wagner entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame on January 21 with 82.5 % votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America in his 10th and final year of voting eligibility after receiving 73.8% of the vote last year.
“I don’t know how to express it; from South West Virginia, from what I think of what I represent playing at the Division-III level and as well living in Virginia, there is so much that goes being involved with this and my wife being with me from every step of playing in college and the minor leagues that I’m beyond grateful for that has helped me every step of the way,” Wagner said on MLB Network with Greg Amsinger, Bob Costas, Tom Verducci and Harold Reynolds hosting the Hall-of-Fame announcement show on January 21.
Wagner will join Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Dave Parker, and Dick Allen for the Class of 2025.
The National Baseball HOF induction ceremony will be on July 27, 202,5, at 1:30 p.m. EDT on the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown grounds and will be televised on MLB Network.
Before being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Wagner was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in November 2019 and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Wagner, 53, was born in Marion, Va., and played 16 seasons in the majors with the Houston Astros from 1995–2003, the Philadelphia Phillies from 2004-2005, the New York Mets from 2006-2009, the Boston Red Sox in 2009, and the Atlanta Braves in 2010.
The southpaw closer consistently reached over 100 mph with his fastball during his big league career. He was also effective with his slider, which reached 83 mph, and his changeup, which reached 89 mph.
“Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw that I was in the bullpen after being a starter in the minors, and when I came up in 1996, the Astros had a lot of injuries to certain players with roster alignments to work with from the front office alongside being used to being a reliever in college. I love being in the bullpen cause I could pitch everyday, and it gave me a way to stay in the games because if I was a starter, I had four days, and I don’t know if I could handle myself going stir crazy, so being a closer and having something to be ready for everyday kind of fitted my personality,” Wagner said on MLB Network.
Wagner is seventh all-time in saves with 422, behind left-handed John Franco with 424, Francisco Rodriguez with 437, Craig Krimbel with 440, Kenley Jansen with 447, Lee Smith with 478, Trevor Hoffman with 601, and Mariano Rivera with 652 at No.1.
He also eclipses inside the top five by ERA+ with Mariano Rivera at 205, Wagner at 187, Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom at 156, and Pedro Martinez at 154.
Wagner also has second lowest ERA in the Live Ball Era at 2.31, with a minimum of 900 innings pitched, behind only Mariano Rivera, who had a 2.21 ERA.
Wagner currently holds the highest K/9 of all time in a minimum of 900 innings pitched at 11.9, followed by Blake Snell at 11.2, Chris Sale and Robbie Ray at 11.1, and Jacob deGrom at 11.0.
Wagner was selected as an all-star in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010, won the National League Rolaids Relief Man Award in 1999, and is in the Houston Astros Hall of Fame. He was part of the Astros’ pitching staff that pitched a combined no-hitter against the New Yankees on June 11, 2003.
Wagner was naturally right-handed as a child and learned to throw left-handed after breaking his right arm while being a two-sport athlete and playing football. In his senior year at Tazewell High School in Tazewell, Va., Wagner compiled a .451 batting average, 23 stolen bases, 29 runs batted in, 116 strikeouts in 46 innings, a 7-1 pitching record, and a 1.52 ERA, which eye-balled a lot of interest from MLB regional scouts.
Wagner set NCAA records for strikeouts per innings, with 19.1, and the fewest hits allowed per nine innings, with 1.88, in the 1992 regular season at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Va.
After his 1992 collegiate season, Wagner played with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named the league’s outstanding pro prospect. Wagner was inducted in 2022 to the CCBL Hall of Fame.
Wagner was selected 12th overall by the Astros in the 1993 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft after his junior season and made his MLB debut for Houston on September 13.
In Wagner’s 16 seasons at the major league level, he compiled an average of 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings and posted a 47-40 record while facing 3,600 batters, throwing 903 innings, allowing 601 hits, 232 earned runs, 82 home runs, 300 walks, 1,196 strikeouts, a 0.998 WHIP and opponents hitting .187 off of him.
