Billy Wagner had never been to Cooperstown. His closest brushes were trips in short-season A-ball to Oneonta, some 25 miles south in New York, to play road games in 1993, his first professional season in the Houston Astros’ system,
Former New York Yankees Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia, along with closer Billy Wagner, were voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, joining Cl
CC Sabathia’s career ended abruptly. Yes, the longtime Yankees left-hander had announced months earlier his plans to retire after the 2019 season, but his final appearance did not go as ceremoniously as Derek Jeter’s or Mariano Rivera’s.
Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball's Hall of Fame, voted in Tuesday along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
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.
In a video posted on X by sports writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz, Wagner leaned against a pool table while taking the call. He listened for more than 15 seconds before he put his hand on his face, fighting tears and hunching over. “Thank you,” he eventually said to the person on the other end of the phone.
Billy Wagner received 82.5 percent of the tally from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, after he missed by just five votes last year.
Wagner, one of the game's all-time great relievers, made the cut during the final year of his eligibility on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, receiving 82.5% of the vote. Wagner would've been removed from the ballot if he didn't meet the voting requirement in 2025, and it's clear just how much it meant to him to get the nod.
If Sabathia and Beltran get in, it could be the first time players identified as Yankees and Mets on their Hall of Fame plaques are enshrined in the same year.
Ichiro Suzuki missed unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote Tuesday night when he headlined a three-player class selected by the 394 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Lefty pitchers Billy Wagner and CC Sabathia both earned their spots in the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining near-unanimous selection Ichiro
Sabathia, Suzuki and Wagner Get Their "Hall Pass" In Cooperstown Sabathia, Suzuki and Wagner Get In Cooperstown