After narrowly missing out on an election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, former Philadelphia Phillies closer Billy Wagner gave his thoughts on falling five votes below the 75% threshold on his ninth writers’ ballot in a podcast appearance on Tuesday.
“I wasn’t as frustrated,” Wagner told Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award-winning writer Jayson Stark and former Phillies teammate Doug Glanville on their “Starkville” podcast for The Athletic. “It was more emotional. I mean, I had that emotional time where you sit there and you think, ‘What is it really? What was the reason that’s really keeping me out?’ Because it’s really not about me. It’s what I can affect down the road.”
As he told to Stark and Glanville, Wagner spent the Jan. 23 Hall of Fame election day with family and the high schoolers he coaches, waiting for a phone call that never came. Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton were ultimately voted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA. Wagner finished with 73.8% of the vote.
The left-hander had a 16-year career as a reliever, starting with nine seasons for the Houston Astros. The Phillies traded for Wagner in 2004, and he excelled with a 1.51 ERA in 75 appearances in 2005 after an injury-riddled first season in Philly. He darted for the Mets in 2006 before ending his career with stops in Boston and Atlanta in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
A seven-time All-Star and the 1999 National League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year, Wagner’s case for the Hall of Fame has gained steam since his first ballot in 2016 when he received 10.5% of the vote. The counting stats don’t quite stack up to those of closers like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman; Wagner has only 422 career games saved, pitched only 903 career innings and never led the league in saves. But he was productive, efficient and effective, dominating those innings threw. Wagner’s 2.31 ERA and 187 ERA+ fall only behind Rivera for the best career marks of anyone to throw 900 innings in the live-ball era. His mark of 11.92 strikeouts per nine innings stands as the best in major-league history among pitchers to throw at least 900 career innings.
With those numbers, and a continued rise in votes as he nears the 75% threshold, Wagner will have one more crack at Cooperstown on the writers’ ballot in 2025.
“I’m glad I’m still on the ballot,” he said. “… I’m such a historian of the game. And looking who’s on that list, who’s gotten in — this year was different than the year before, with the expectation it could be the year — I’m trying to stay as humble as possible and know that I don’t want to get too high, and I don’t want to get too low either.”
Must-read (or watch) Phillies content
- Check out the full Wagner interview on the latest “Starkville” below:
- Here’s the Phillies Nation story on Wagner’s Hall of Fame balloting results — along with other Phillies — from last week.
- The newest Phillies Nation top prospect list is available to read now.
- Rhys Hoskins is a Brewer now, but hopes to keep calling Philadelphia home.
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