Wagner, who threw 100 miles at the time on the last train of tears, was inducted at 82.5% in the last decade
Jan 22, 2025
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Major League Baseball announced the results of the HOF vote in 2025 through MLB Network on the 22nd (Korea time). Wagner was inducted into the HOF with support from 325 or 82.5% of the 392 reporters from the BBWAA (National Baseball Journalists Association).
Wagner retired in 2010 and ran on the HOF ballot from 2016, five years later, until last year, only to be honored for nine years.
He made his major league debut with the Houston Astros in 1995 and went through the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, recording a 16-year career 422 saves with a 2.31 ERA and 1,196 strikeouts in 903 innings.
Wagner, who joined in the first round of the 1993 draft after being drafted by Houston, pitched as a starter in the minor leagues before turning into a reliever with a major league call-up. He made 37 saves and a 1.43 ERA for Atlanta in 2010, his final season, but left the ground early that year, keeping his promise to retire. The reason for retirement was "to be with the family".
He is ranked eighth in the overall save list, and is second to John Franco (424 saves) as a left-hander. It is the ninth time a reliever has reached the HOF, following Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Souter and Hoyt Wilhelm.
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However, he received relatively less attention due to his contemporaries with Rivera and Trevor. While Rivera entered the HOF with the only unanimous opinion in its 2019 history and Hoffman also succeeded in entering 2018, his third year of eligibility, Wagner had to wait as long as 10 years.
Wagner's vote share, which started at 10.5% in 2016, the first year, gained momentum as it rose to 31.7% in 2020 after not exceeding 10% until 2019. After 46.4% in 2021, it exceeded half of the support to 51.0% in 2022, and increased the possibility of being inducted to 68.1% in 2023, and was honored this time after being unfortunately eliminated with 73.8% of the vote last year, his ninth year.
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MLB.com added 'Wagner, who was relatively small, made hitters fools with a 100-mile fastball and hard slider. He said his move toward Cooperstown was difficult because he did not live a long life compared to Rivera and Hoffman.
In fact, Wagner's total pitching innings are the fewest among relief pitchers who entered the HOF. But he dominated the era with the most overwhelming ball power of any left-handed reliever of all time.
Wagner boasts the highest strikeout rate (33.2%) among pitchers who have pitched more than 900 innings. On the same basis, he also marked the No. 1 hit rate (0.186) since 1900 when modern baseball began, and the best ERA (2.31) and WHIP (0.998) as left-handers since the opening of the live ball era in 1920.
Meanwhile, along with Wagner, Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabicia also received the honor of reaching the HOF. Ichiro failed to win a unanimous vote due to the opposition of only one person, but he succeeded in entering the first year of HOF qualification with 99.7% of the vote, the third-largest in history. Sabathia, also in its first year of eligibility, also headed to Cooperstown with 86.8% of the vote.
This year's HOF induction ceremony will be held on July 28 at the Clarks Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York. Dave Park and the late Dick Allen, selected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee, are also the main characters of the induction ceremony.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
