By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

For former Atlanta Braves closer Billy Wagner, it’s the bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded, and he’s come in to get three outs. Well, Wagner was less than three percentage points away from a well-deserved and long-overdue Hall-of-Fame vote last year. Let’s hope he gets the call in 2025. Here’s why Cobb County residents should care.

In 2010, his only season in Atlanta, and his last in Major League Baseball, Billy Wagner recorded 37 saves, with a 1.43 earned run average (ERA), going 7-2 that year. For those who care about “alternate” statistics, he had a 2.5 bWAR and a 2.10 FIP. That season, he also notched his 400^th save, on his way to 422 career saves (good enough for eighth all time). If that’s not a career season for a great game finisher, I don’t know what is.

Perhaps some Braves fans remember how he was a leader on those great “Killer B’s” Houston Astros teams of the late 1990s through 2003, when the lineup of Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Derrick Bell and Lance Berkman faced off against the Braves nearly every year. The best of those “B’s” should have been Wagner.

There could be some bitterness from those epic Braves-Phillies and Braves-Mets rivalries, as Wagner left Texas for those National League East rivals. But you have to admit that someone who closes for the Mets and gets them to the National League Championship Series is some kind of special pitcher. I mean, that’s not something that happens much in history.

In any Major League Baseball Hall-of-Fame voting, there will be detractors. Some will point to the fact that Billy Wagner only made the top 10 in Cy Young voting twice, the top 25 in MVP once, and six All-Star appearances, including his last season, with the Atlanta Braves, as reasons to exclude Wagner from the MLB HOF. But as you can see with his record, the years he didn’t make the top 10 for Cy Young were almost identical to the years he did so. And three times, Wagner had more than 30 saves, and didn’t make the All-Star Game.

Brian McTaggart’s excellent column for MLB.com makes a perfect case for Wagner to be in the HOF. “Comparing Wagner to his peers only cements his Hall of Fame resume: his 2.31 ERA as a reliever is lower than Trevor Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers and Hoyt Wilhelm — all of whom are Hall of Famers. Wagner ended his career with an ERA+ of 187. Only Mariano Rivera had a higher number, with a 205 ERA+.”

McTaggart goes on to provide more statistics to show why it’s foolish to leave Wagner off the ballot. “What’s more, his 11.92 strikeouts per nine innings and .187 opponents’ batting average are tops for any pitcher — starter or reliever — in AL/NL  history in those categories (minimum 900 innings). His 0.997 career WHIP is second-best all-time among all pitchers (min. 900 innings).”

David Adler’s equally strong MLB column documents more data that shows Wagner was among the best. “Wagner measures up to the Hall of Famers. He’s the sixth-best closer of all time by reliever JAWS, and the only five relievers better than him are already in Cooperstown: Rivera, Eckersley, Wilhelm, Gossage and Hoffman. Wagner’s reliever JAWS score is easily higher than Smith’s, Fingers’ and Sutter’s.” He goes on to show that Wagner had the second lowest ERA in the live ball era (only behind Mariano Rivera), the highest strikeout percentage for those throwing 900 innings, and best K/9 innings percentage by the same measure.

“There’s also Wagner’s .187 career batting average allowed and 0.998 career WHIP. Going by the same innings-pitched baseline, his batting average is the lowest allowed by any pitcher ever — ahead of Nolan Ryan (.204) and Sandy Koufax (.205),” Adler adds.

And he’s not in the Hall-of-Fame?

In early 2025, this product of Division III Ferrum College, who is also a high school baseball coach, should be granted the place he deserves in Cooperstown, New York. Any other result should result in greater scrutiny of those baseball writers.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.