In electing Wagner, the BBWAA has defined the modern-day closer as its own entity, with candidates’ credentials measured not against the whole of the body but against this specific peer group.
Billy Wagner received 82.5 percent of the tally from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, after he missed by just five votes last year.
The path to the National Baseball Hall of Fame was far from easy for Billy Wagner. It was a grueling, decade-long wait filled with challenges, but ultimately, it became a triumph worth celebrating. Making history as the first left-handed reliever to earn induction,
Miller School baseball coach Billy Wagner, known to the outside world as the best lefthanded closer in MLB history, is a Baseball Hall of Famer.
To gain entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Billy Wagner completed a climb few candidates have managed. Wagner, the former Houston Astros closer, attained the 75% support from voters required for election in his final year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot.
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Wagner had a 1.98 earned run average and struck out 22 of the 56 batters he faced in his 15 games for the Red sox in 2009.
In his 10th and final year on the ballot, former Astros closer Billy Wagner earned is place in Cooperstown, N.Y. in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
After falling five votes short of Baseball Hall of Fame last year, Billy Wagner is hopeful on his final year on ballot.
The Baseball Hall of Fame has announced the results of this year’s voting, with Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner exceeding the necessary 75% threshold for induction into the Class of 2025.
Other bits of intrigue ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. announcement: Will CC Sabathia be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is this the year Billy Wagner gets in?
Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected as the newest members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the museum announced.