On January 21, 2025, all-time great closer Billy Wagner was elected to the Hall of Fame. A version of this story originally ran in December 2020.

After falling five votes short of Baseball Hall of Fame last year, Billy Wagner is hopeful on his final year on ballot.

New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca, left, congratulates closer Billy Wagner by patting him on the cap after the Mets 4-3 win over the New York Yankees in 2006. Billy Wagner was unhittable as a pitcher and now he’s officially a baseball immortal.

Former Houston Astros pitcher Billy Wagner, one of the best relief pitchers in the 1990s and 2000s, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Once more, for baseball immortality, Billy Wagner closed it out. Wagner, the dominant closer who played a two-season sliver of his 16-year career with the Phillies, got elected Tuesday night to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 10th and final year on the ballot.

Billy Wagner fell just short in his quest to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame last January. The legendary former Houston Astros closer projects to qualify for Cooperstown when the results for the class of 2025 are announced Monday night.

Billy Wagner may have been an Astro and a Phillie at least as much as he was a Met, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he was, indeed, a Met. Wagner was an important one, too, spending three-plus ye

The three stalwarts were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday and will be enshrined in Cooperstown this summer.

Ichiro Suzuki could join Mariano Rivera as the only unanimous picks for baseball’s Hall of Fame and CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner and Carlos Beltrán also could be elected when results of the writers’ voting are announced.

Wagner erupted in tears as he received the news of his induction during a phone call with Hall of Fame representatives in Cooperstown. Our Esquina's Jose de Jesus Ortiz was alongside Wagner in the reliever's home Tuesday night, and Ortiz relayed quite the emotional message.

After 10 attempts, former Astros closer Billy Wagner finally reached the Hall of Fame, joining Ichiro and CC Sabathia in the class of 2025.