10 Ballots

Hell or high water, William Edward “Billy The Kid” Wagner is finally in the damn Hall of Fame.

It only took ten ballots for some reason, well we know the reason, the writers who get off on being judge, jury and executioner opened the gates to baseball immortality to the greatest left handed closer of all time.

16 Seasons

2.31 ERA

422 Saves

11.9 K/9

187 ERA+

7x All Star

.998 WHIP

Before the Golden Age, before the flags that now fly forever, before the parades, all we had was heartbreak and what ifs. Growing up with the 90’s and 2000’s teams, we had the fan favorites, the sporadic playoff moments, but we now have three homegrown Hall of Famers and that means something to me. #7 #5 and #13 will forever be inshrined in Houston and we got to bear witness.

To me, Billy Wagner was bigger than life growing up, a mammoth of a super human who threw 100 mph from the left side, who made the Astrodome/Enron/Minute Maid Park come to life every 9th inning. In the moment, you knew you were witnessing greatness and now finally after a long and egregious journey, immortality opens her gates to one of our own again.