‘He was right there’: Wagner falls five votes short of Cooperstown

3:35 AM UTC

HOUSTON — Perhaps it is only fitting that Billy Wagner’s Hall of Fame candidacy is going to come down to the wire. After all, the 5-foot-10 fireballer made a living out of nail-biting moments late in games en route to amassing 422 saves during a career that’s put him on the cusp of Cooperstown.

Wagner, in his ninth year on the ballot, fell five votes shy of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America released on Tuesday. Wagner appeared on 73.8 percent of the ballots with 284 votes, putting him oh-so-close to the 75 percent needed. He’ll have one final chance on the ballot next year.

“It’s super disappointing,” Wagner told MLB.com. “You can’t hide it. It’s frustrating, but on the other hand I thank God I had an opportunity to be on that ballot, and I’m really happy for the guys that did get in. They deserve it.”

No one feels Wagner’s pain of coming up just short of the Hall of Fame more than former Astros teammate Craig Biggio, who fell two votes short in 2014 before being inducted a year later.

“He was right there,” Biggio said. “He was knocking on the door. We were hoping for that fourth guy to be called out. I’m hurting for him right now. You’re that close, you know?”

The three players in the 2024 Hall of Fame class are Adrián Beltré (95.1 percent), Todd Helton (79.7 percent) and Joe Mauer (76.1 percent), who finished nine votes ahead of Wagner in his first year on the ballot. Former Pirates, Marlins, Rockies and Tigers manager Jim Leyland will also be inducted on July 21.

Wagner, who received 68.1 percent of the vote last year, probably has enough momentum to make it into the Hall of Fame next year, but nothing is a given.

“I don’t want to take away from Beltré and Joe and those guys who really earned that opportunity,” he said. “It’s not in the cards [for me] this year. We’ll just deal with this again next year.”

Wagner used an electric 100-mph fastball to generate incredible power from his small frame, making him one of the most dominant closers of his generation. He made seven All-Star teams during his career with the Astros, Mets, Phillies, Braves and Red Sox.

Wagner had a career 2.31 ERA in 903 innings — the second-lowest ERA in the Modern Era (since 1900) for pitchers with at least 900 innings. His 11.92 strikeouts per nine innings and .187 opponents’ batting average are the best career totals of any pitcher in AL/NL history with at least 900 innings.

“As far as where I’m sitting, there’s nobody better or as dominant as Billy Wagner was,” said Hall of Fame first baseman Jeff Bagwell, Wagner’s former teammate.

A first-round pick out of Ferrum College in the 1993 MLB Draft, Wagner came up through the Astros’ system as a starting pitcher before making the transition to reliever following a call-up to Houston in 1995. He saved a club-record 225 games in his nine years with the Astros (1995-03), making three All-Star teams and finishing fourth in the 1999 National League Cy Young Award voting.

The Astros traded Wagner to the Phillies in 2003, and he had another All-Star season in ’05, saving 38 games. Wagner went on to record 101 saves in three seasons for the Mets, making the All-Star team in 2007-08. He notched his 300th career save with New York in ’06 and made three more All-Star teams after that.

In his final year in the big leagues, with the Braves in 2010, Wagner was as good as ever. He recorded 37 saves, posted a 1.43 ERA and struck out 104 batters in 69 1/3 innings, earning his final All-Star nod. He also reached 400 career saves during that season. In the final regular-season inning of his career, Wagner struck out all three of the batters he faced looking.

Wagner had announced his retirement earlier that season, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. He’s followed through on that promise, having served as head baseball coach at the Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Va., for 13 years. Wagner coached two of his sons, including Will, who’s a prospect in the Houston system.

“Everything that was asked of him he did,” Bagwell said. “He was just straight-up dominant. The guy walked away because he wanted to be with his family. He could have hung around and compiled some numbers and stuff like that. If you don’t believe what my eyes told me, look at the numbers. It tells you how dominant he is.”

Another former Astros player, outfielder Carlos Beltrán, had 57.1 percent of the vote in his second year on the ballot. Two other former Astros received votes: outfielder Bobby Abreu (14.8 percent in his fifth year) and left-hander Andy Pettitte (13.5 percent in his sixth year).