Ex-Ferrum star Wagner falls five votes short of Cooperstown

Staff and wire reports

Former Ferrum College star Billy Wagner fell just five votes short of getting into Cooperstown on Tuesday night.

Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton and Joe Maurer did get good news, though. They were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

But Wagner got 73.8% of the votes, just shy of the 75% he needed to be inducted.

Wagner, who is now the baseball coach at The Miller School in Albemarle County, finished fourth in the voting this year. The former reliever was named on 284 of the 385 ballots, but he needed 289 votes.

This was the Tazewell High School graduate’s ninth year on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.

Next year will be Wagner’s final year on the BWAA ballot. If he is not elected next year, his candidacy will move to a committee of 16 Cooperstown inductees, media members and baseball executives.

People are also reading…

Wagner, who pitched for Ferrum from 1991-93, saw his vote total increase for the seventh straight year.

The seven-time All-Star received 10.5% of the votes in his first year of eligibility in 2016, 10.2% in 2017 and 11.1% in 2018. He was at 16.7% in 2019 and rose to 31.7% in 2020. He jumped to 46.5% in 2021. He rose to 51% in 2022 and jumped way up to 68.1% last year.

Wagner ranks sixth in major league history with 422 saves. The left-hander had 1,196 strikeouts and a 2.31 ERA in 903 innings. He averaged 11.92 strikeouts per nine innings. Foes hit only .187 against Wagner, who pitched for the Houston Astros and four other major-league teams from 1995 through 2010.

Beltré was picked on 366 ballots in his first appearance for 95.1%.

Helton, making his sixth ballot appearance, got 307 votes for 79.7%. He got 18 votes more than he needed after falling 11 votes short last year.

Like Beltré, Mauer was elected on his first try. Mauer got 293 votes (just four votes more than he needed) for 76.1%.

Beltré, Mauer and Helton will be inducted at Cooperstown on July 21 along with Jim Leyland, who was elected last month by the contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires.

Gary Sheffield got 246 votes for 63.9% in his final year on the BWAA ballot. He now becomes eligible for consideration by the contemporary baseball player committee, which meets next in December 2025.

Andruw Jones was at 61.6%, while Carlos Beltran was at 57.1%.

Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez again lagged, hurt by suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez received 34.8% and Ramírez 32.5%.

Beltré, a four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove third baseman, hit .286 with 477 homers and 1,707 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004), Seattle (2005-09), Boston (2010) and Texas (2011-18). His 2,759 games at third base are second to Brooks Robinson’s 2,870 and his 636 doubles are 11th on the career list.

Helton, a five-time All-Star first baseman and the 2000 major league batting champion, he hit .316 in 17 seasons for Colorado with 369 homers, 1,406 RBIs and 1,401 runs.

Mauer was a six-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and the 2009 AL MVP during 15 seasons with Minnesota. He is the only catcher to win three batting titles, and he became just the 20th player in the Hall who was primarily a catcher. He hit .306 with 143 homers and 906 RBIs with Minnesota from 2004-18.

Among other first-time candidates, Chase Utley (28.8%) and David Wright (6.2%) got enough votes to remain on next year’s ballot.

Former Salem Avalanche standout Matt Holliday was among the first-time candidates who were under 5% and will be dropped from the ballot.

Next year, Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia will be eligible for the BWAA ballot for the first time.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!