Tearful Billy Wagner finally earns Hall of Fame nod

Nothing was ever easy for Billy Wagner growing up amid poverty in Southwest Virginia. Yet, the hard-throwing left-hander always found a way to fight and persevere. And now he’s set to join baseball’s immortals in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Wagner, 53, was a proud and outspoken player during his 16-year career in the majors. Yet, he could hardly formulate a sentence after he received the call he had been waiting to receive for the last 10 years.

He held his smartphone to his ear with his powerful left hand. Then he wiped away tears with his right hand and sobbed as his wife of 30 years, Sarah, gently rubbed his back. All the while, Wagner struggled to say a word.

He joins Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Dave Parker and Dick Allen in the Hall’s Class of 2025. They will be inducted on July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Wagner received votes on 325 of the 394 ballots for 82.5 percent.

Ichiro received 393 votes for 99.746 percent. That is the highest percentage since Derek Jeter had 99.748 percent on 396 of 397 ballots.

The weight of the long wait was evident for Billy Wagner when he finally got the call from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Dreams do come true,” he said.#HallofFame pic.twitter.com/ovLCvTANdo

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) January 21, 2025

“Yes,” Wagner told Jack O’Connell of the BBWAA between tears. “Thank you.”

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The weight of the long wait was evident as Wagner took the call from O’Connell.

‘In tears’

“When he called I could barely speak,” Wagner said from his home in Crozet, Virginia. “I couldn’t get a ‘hello’ out.”

Wagner finally surpassed the necessary 75 percent threshold of support from veteran members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He was in his 10th and final year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot.

“I’m in tears,” Wagner said. “Ten years of having somebody tell me I shouldn’t be in it, so to make it, I’m just thinking of my high school coaches, all the guys that I came up with and things like that.

“It’s just really hard to put into words. I don’t know how you even expect anything like this when you come from Southwest Virginia.” 

Wagner, a seven-time All-Star, was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves over 16 seasons. He played nine seasons with the Astros, where he set the franchise’s all-time saves record.

Praise from Drayton McLane

Former Astros owner Drayton McLane was happy to see that Billy Wagner will finally be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“He had outstanding ability and accomplishments and character,” McLane said. “Billy had great character. And his position as a closer was exactly what we needed. He really filled a need. We had (Jeff) Bagwell and Craig Biggio and Ken Caminiti, but Billy came in and he made the Houston Astros better.

“He was one of the very first pitchers throwing 100 mph. I can just remember how excited Houston Astros fans were when he came in throwing that fastball 100 mph. He brought a great deal of excitement and success to the Astros.”

Mariano Rivera (652), Trevor Hoffman (601) and Lee Smith (478) are the only Hall of Famers with more saves than Wagner. He played the longest portion of his career in Houston. He was traded to the Phillies after the 2003 season.

After two seasons with the Phillies, he spent parts of four seasons with the Mets. Wagner was traded by the Mets to the Red Sox late in the 2009. He spent the 2010 season with the Braves, securing his final All-Star bid before retiring at 38 years old to spend time with his wife and four young children.

“Congratulations to Billy Wagner on baseball’s highest honor,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said. “He was a two-time All-Star during his four seasons in Queens and earned his 300th career save in a Mets uniform. Billy was one of the game’s dominate closers and will now be forever enshrined in the Hall of Fame.”

Rivera was a unanimous selection by the BBWAA. Wagner had to build his support slowly, though. Wagner and his wife of 30 years, Sarah, were with two of their four children – Jeremy, 24, and Kason, 18 – when Billy Wagner got the call.

“Sarah was as emotional as I was,” Billy Wagner said through tears. “She threw every pitch at every game with me. This was as much for her as it is for me.”

Wagner hopes his election into the Hall of Fame helps to inspires kids in the southwest part of Virginia and Division III baseball players. He was the Astros’ first round pick in 1993 out of tiny Division III Ferrum College.

“Dreams do come true,” he said.

Sarah Wagner knew more than anyone how much the Hall of Fame wait had weighed on her husband. As she did throughout much of his career, she provided comfort and strength all the way through his tearful reaction when he got the news Tuesday night.

“Well, that was a good bit (of tears),” she said. “We held it until he got the call.”