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.

Billy Wagner fell just five votes short of induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame last January, making 2025 his 10th and final eligible year on the ballot for enshrinement in Cooperstown. The former Houston Astros closer finally broke through Tuesday night.

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

Houston Astros reliever Billy Wagner made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his final year to be on the ballot.

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.

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.

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.

In his 10th and final year on the ballot, former Mets closer Billy Wagner finally garnered enough votes to take his rightful place in Cooperstown in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

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

Ichiro Suzuki is the first Japanese-born player voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He'll be joined by CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner in the Class of 2025.