Early Ballots Have Astros Closer In HOF Mix

Former Houston Astros reliever Billy Wagner is hanging in close to the 75% needed for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Class of 2024.

As of Tuesday, 25 votes were cast and catalogued by members of the Baseball Writers Association. All but two retained their anonymity.

Wagner was named on 18 of the 25 ballots catalogued, which put him at 72% of the vote. If the balloting ended today, Wagner would fall just short of induction — just like last year.

Wagner received 68.1% of the vote last year, which was second-most among players that didn’t get the 75% needed for induction. Wagner is in his ninth year on the ballot and a player cannot remain on the ballot for more than 10 years.

The tracker estimates that there will be 384 ballots cast, which would require an estimated 288 votes for induction. Votes are to be completed by Dec. 31 with inductees to be announced on Jan. 23.

The 2024 induction ceremony is set for July 21.

Wagner’s 422 career saves is second-highest among left-handed relievers and sixth overall. His career 2.31 ERA is the lowest among retired left-handed pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched in the live ball era. At the time of his retirement his 14.95 single-season-strikeout-per-nine innings was the highest among relievers.

With Houston, he went 26-29 and had 225 saves, as he made it to the All-Star Game three times. He was also named the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year in 1999 with Houston, a year in which he had 39 saves, went 4-1 and finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting.

Wagner also played for Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta and the New York Mets, but he is most closely associated with the Astros, where he played the first nine years of his career.

By the end of his career he was a seven-time All-Star and pitched part of a combined no-hitter on June 11, 2003, with Houston. He is also a member of the Houston Astros Hall of Fame.

The only player named on each of the first 25 ballots was Texas Rangers third baseman Adrián Beltré. Other players that had at least 75 perent of the vote on the first 25 ballots were Todd Helton (88%), Joe Mauer (84%) and Gary Sheffield (76%).

Whoever is elected will join former manager Jim Leyland. He earned induction on the Contemporary Baseball Era Managers/Executives/Umpires ballot at the Winter Meetings.