Former Astros pitcher Billy Wagner is in Houston's Hall of Fame but he came up five votes short of Cooperstown on Tuesday. He has one more year on the writers' ballot.
The Astros suffered a loss Tuesday.
Billy Wagner, looking to become the third player from the franchise to sport the Astros’ star on his Baseball Hall of Fame cap, came up five votes shy of the 75% needed at 73.8%.
It was understood that with more than half the votes having been made public before Tuesday evening’s announcement, according to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame tracker, Wagner’s induction would hinge on a few votes.
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He is certainly deserving.
RELATED: Billy Wagner comes up five votes shy.
There is an argument that he is the second-best closer of all-time behind Yankees great Mariano Rivera.
He was spectacular. A physical marvel, standing just 5-foot-9, yet throwing 100-mph smoke? Ooh, baby.
Why then have I never received any correspondence touting his candidacy or complaint about his snub?
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Not a single letter, email, direct message or comment on social media, about Wagner. No smoke signals, that I know of, not a paper plane with message on it, or a bottle in the ocean with a note … nothing.
Perhaps it is because I don’t have a Hall of Fame vote. That hasn’t stopped people from reaching out to me to weigh in on everything from global warming to the designated hitter rule.
I take the Hall voting so seriously that I intentionally stopped being a member of the Baseball Writers Association before I became eligible to vote. I love the sport, but I’m not qualified to vote for such a prestigious honor.
The Jesus Ortizes, Brian McTaggarts and Richard Justices of the world, former Chronicle colleagues who covered the Astros, have the knowledge and dedication that is required.
They say Wagner belongs in the Hall, so undoubtedly, he belongs.
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Wagner has been on the ballot for nine years. Next year will be his last, and he will likely get in.
In 2016, when he first became eligible for the Hall, just 10.5% of voters thought he was worthy. Ross Perot garnered nearly twice that in the 1992 presidential election.
By last year, without throwing another pitch, obviously, Wagner was up to 68.1% of the necessary votes.
One push in his favor is new-age statistics rank Wagner well above where old-school baseball heads have him.
His game was quality, not quantity.
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That is why his candidacy has not been pushed harder by Astros’ fans.
I have a theory that with so many beloved players the Astros have had in their history, Wagner simply doesn’t rank up there with the greats. Not on talent, on nostalgia.
The new set of fans — those who came along during the social media age, when the Astros became the best organization in baseball — are too young to know or remember how good Wagner was.
Oh, he was a bad man, a great teammate, and a bona fide superstar. But after playing his first nine seasons in an Astros uniform, Wagner played for four other teams over his last seven years.
He was a three-time All-Star in Houston, then made the game four times with other teams.
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Then there is his playoff record.
Wagner was on the roster for some of the Astros’ most disappointing postseason efforts.
The Killer B’s never got it done.
The Astros lost all four playoff series in which Wagner pitched (1997, ’98, ’99 and 2001). It wasn’t his fault that Bagwell, Biggio, et al didn’t show up, but he didn’t perform particularly well, either.
In five appearances, Wagner gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings, including two home runs, for a 9.64 ERA. Wagner was better than that.
He picked up a win after blowing a save in Game 2 of the NLDS against San Diego, when Jim Leyritz hit a two-run homer in the ninth.
Billy Spiers saved the Astros that afternoon with a single to score Ricky Gutierrez in the bottom of the frame. That hit came off Trevor Hoffman, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame six years ago.
I don’t point out Wagner’s pedestrian playoff stats with the Astros to say he wasn’t special. He truly was, and he delivered night in and night out for one of the best teams in baseball in the late 1990s.
He just didn’t have those Rivera in October moments because the Astros never advanced in the playoffs. It wasn’t his fault.
Hoffman received almost as much of the vote in his first year of eligibility (67.3%) as Wagner did in his eighth (68.1).
Of course, Hoffman was the first pitcher to earn 500 and then 600 saves. He came up two years before Wagner and they both retired in 2010.
Hoffman finished with a then-record 601 saves and pitched nearly 1,100 innings. Wagner has only 422 saves and 903 innings pitched, because he appeared in 182 fewer games.
But Wagner’s 2.31 ERA is significantly lower than Hoffman’s 2.87. And Wagner's opponents’ batting average (.187) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.92) are better than all the seven relievers in the Hall.
Hoffman is one of just two pitchers (Bruce Sutter is the other) in the Hall who never started a game.
Wagner should be the third.
This is a win Wagner and the Astros deserve.
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