Billy Wagner anxiously waited for his moment, but not just for himself, for what it meant to the future of baseball.

MLB players who are eligible to make the Baseball Hall of Fame receive 10 chances (as long as they don't dip below five percent of the vote) to get a plaque in

It was a long time coming, but Billy Wagner finally closed it out. And he couldn’t keep the emotions from flowing. The seven-time All-Star, in his final year of eligibility, was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 82.5 percent of the vote.

Wagner was elected in his 10th and final year on the ballot with 82.5% of the vote. Chase Utley climbed to 39.8% in his second year.

In his 10th and final year on the ballot, former Astros closer Billy Wagner earned is place in Cooperstown, N.Y. in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The players and then the public learned the results of the 2025 vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

The trio of stars, each of whom spent part of their career in New York, will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 27.

Billy Wagner received 82.5 percent of the tally from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, after he missed by just five votes last year.

Wagner erupted in tears as he received the news of his induction during a phone call with Hall of Fame representatives in Cooperstown. Our Esquina's Jose de Jesus Ortiz was alongside Wagner in the reliever's home Tuesday night, and Ortiz relayed quite the emotional message.

Ichiro Suzuki had already cemented a strong, and likely everlasting baseball card market long before Tuesday’s almost unanimous vote for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, headlining the class of 2025.