Former Astros closer Billy Wagner elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame
Former Astros All-Star Billy Wagner was one of the most feared and dominant closers in Major League history. On Tuesday, his dominance was rewarded as he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Wagner and the rest of this year's newly-selected Hall of Famers will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, on Sunday, July 27.
Wagner, who was in his 10th and final season on the Hall of Fame ballot, has seen a significant increase in his vote totals in recent years, going from 16.7% of the vote in 2019 to 33.2% in 2020, 46.4% in 2021, 51% in 2022 , 68.1% in 2023 and 73.8% in 2024.
With today's announcement, Wagner becomes the third player voted into the Hall of Fame who played all or the majority of his Major League games in an Astros uniform, joining Craig Biggio (2015) and Jeff Bagwell (2017).
During his 16-year career, Wagner was one of the most dominant and hardest-throwing closers in Major League history. His career statistics top those of all but one Hall of Fame reliever in several key categories. In his 903.0 career innings pitched, Wagner allowed just 601 hits while tallying 1,196 strikeouts.
Additional evidence of Wagner's dominance are his 11.92 SO/9 innings pitched ratio and .187 opponent batting average, both of which are, by far, the best career totals of ANY pitcher, starter or reliever, in Major League history in those categories (min. 900 IP). His 0.997 career WHIP is third-best all-time among all hurlers in ML history (min. 900 IP).
A seven-time All-Star, Wagner's 2.31 career ERA ranks second among Hall of Fame relievers, his 85.9 career save percentage is third and his 422 career saves are fourth.
Wagner had several stellar seasons, with one of his most memorable occurring in 1999. That season, he had 39 saves with a 1.57 ERA while punching out 124 batters in 74.2 innings pitched and allowing just 35 hits.
His .135 opponent batting average and 14.95 SO/9 innings pitched totals were the best in Major League history for a single season at the time, while his 0.78 WHIP was fourth-best in ML history. His 1999 campaign was unquestionably one of the most dominant seasons ever by a closer, earning him a fourth-place finish in the NL Cy Young voting that season.
