The National Baseball Hall of Fame elected three new members Tuesday night to be inducted this summer in Cooperstown. And while Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia got in on their first ballots, Billy Wagner had a longer wait.
The longtime Astros closer spent the last 10 years on the ballot, with 2025 representing his last chance to get voted into the Hall of Fame.
Wagner played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball, totaling 422 saves, which is currently No. 8 on the all-time list. He played for the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Braves, spending his entire career as a reliever and only having one season with an ERA over 3.00.
When he got the call, Wagner couldn’t contain his emotion after reaching the end of what he described as a “nightmare” process. Wagner came just five votes shy of induction last year, meaning he had to wait another 365 days to see if he made the cut.
Here’s a look at how Wagner reacted to finally making the Hall of Fame.
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Video: Billy Wagner Hall of Fame reaction
New Hall of Famers get a call from Baseball Writers’ Association of America secretary-treasurer Jack O’Connell, and each has a different reaction. Veteran journalist Jose De Jesus Ortiz was on hand to capture Wagner’s reaction to getting the call, as the former closer broke down in tears after getting the news.
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
Then, when MLB Network interviewed Wagner after his induction, the lefty was again emotional when speaking about what this moment meant to him.
“The game has given me so much. It’s given me everything I can possibly have.”
An emotional @BillyWagner1313 joined us after learning he’d been elected to the @baseballhall. pic.twitter.com/LD2Z65RTy7
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 22, 2025
While Ichiro and Sabathia knew that they had nine more years on the ballot if they didn’t get in this year, Wagner did not have that luxury. Therefore, his emotion is not just of someone realizing he’s been immortalized in baseball history, it’s also that of a player who feared losing his chance at making the hall beyond this year.
