In electing Wagner, the BBWAA has defined the modern-day closer as its own entity, with candidates’ credentials measured not against the whole of the body but against this specific peer group.

To gain entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Billy Wagner completed a climb few candidates have managed. Wagner, the former Houston Astros closer, attained the 75% support from voters required for election in his final year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot.

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.

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Miller School baseball coach Billy Wagner, known to the outside world as the best lefthanded closer in MLB history, is a Baseball Hall of Famer.

Other bits of intrigue ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. announcement: Will CC Sabathia be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is this the year Billy Wagner gets in?

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.

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.

The Baseball Hall of Fame has announced the results of this year’s voting, with Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner exceeding the necessary 75% threshold for induction into the Class of 2025.

In Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, the Baseball Writers Association delivered quite an eclectic trifecta to Cooperstown on Tuesday. The first Japanese player ever elected to the Hall of Fame,

The identity of the writer has not been revealed and may never be. BBWAA members who vote for the Hall of Fame have to be in the association for 10 years. They have the option of making their ballots public. The public ballots for this election will be released by the Hall of Fame on Feb. 4.

Emptying out my reporter’s notebook while hoping the CBS cameras keep showing Taylor Swift’s entourage during the Chiefs-Bills game on Sunday.