Former Braves closer Billy Wagner misses Baseball Hall of Fame by five votes

The Baseball Hall of Fame got a bit larger tonight, but has no additional Atlanta Braves representation.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame made their 2024 induction announcement tonight on MLB Network, and a former Braves arm just barely missed joining the class.

Billy Wagner, the team's closer in 2010, received 73.8% of the vote, missing the election by five votes.

Wagner's near-miss means there's only eight relievers to ever be elected to the Hall: Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley, Hoyt Wilhelm, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter.

And it's hard to argue that Wagner didn't deserve to be included.

Wagner put up a 2.31 ERA and 187 ERA+ in his career, better than every pitcher in the Live Ball Era but one - fellow closer Mariano Rivera, who is the only player to be elected unanimously. He finished his sixteen-year MLB career with 422 saves (6th all time) and 1196 career strikeouts, 4th all-time for relievers and the most of any lefty reliever. The only closer with more saves and strikeouts than Wagner, Lee Smith (478 saves and 1225 strikeouts), was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2019.

And Wagner's final season, the 2010 season he spent with Atlanta, was one of his best. The 38 year-old went 7-2 with a 1.43 ERA in 71 appearances, striking out 104 batters in his 69.1 innings pitched. He converted 37 saves in 44 opportunities, and was named to his 7th All-Star team that summer.

He may not have had the sheer number of saves as some of his career years (like the 44 he had on a league-leading 67 games finished in 2003), or the highest strikeout totals (like his 199 season, where he struck out 124 batters at an absurd 14.9 K/9), but 2010 was his best full-season ERA of his career, his 4th-highest strikeout total, and his 6th-highest inning total of what is not quite yet a Hall of Fame career.

Who made it

In the Hall of Fame this fall will be manager Jim Leyland (Contemporary Baseball Era Committee selection), Minnesota Twins great Joe Mauer, legendary third baseman Adrián Beltré, and Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton.

But Wagner wasn't the only former Atlanta Braves player on the Hall of Fame ballot. Outfielders Gary Sheffield and Andruw Jones were both on the ballot, falling just short of induction.

Sheffield, whose 2003 season in Atlanta saw him put up an absurd .330/.419/.604 slashline with 39 homers and 132 RBIs, fell short of the requisite 75% vote share for induction with only 63.9% of the vote. Given that this was Sheffield's tenth and final year on the standard ballot, he'll only make the Hall of Fame if a Contemporary Baseball Era Committee selects him in a special election.

Jones, who debuted with Atlanta in 1996 at age 19 and played for Atlanta through his age-30 season, fell just short of induction with 61.6% of the vote, despite being considered by many one of the greatest centerfielders to ever play the game.

It's a smaller jump in vote share for Jones, who just finished his 7th year of Hall of Fame eligibility, after coming in at 58.1% in last year's voting. It's the consistent jumps in vote share for the legendary centerfielder, who finished his 5th year of eligibility at just under 45%, that give hope that Jones might get in before his ten years of eligibility are set to expire.

2024 Hall of Fame results, via BBWAA:
Adrián Beltré, 95.1%
Todd Helton, 79.7%
Joe Mauer: 76.1%

Just missed:
Billy Wagner, 73.8%

Dropping off: José Bautista, Victor Martinez, Bartolo Colon, Matt Holliday, Adrián González, Brandon Phillips, José Reyes, James Shields pic.twitter.com/Mp4ExyBoNB
— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) January 23, 2024

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