Former Astro Billy Wagner enters Hall of Fame with humble speech. ‘Obstacles are not a roadblock’

Published 1:45 am Monday, July 28, 2025

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Billy Wagner wore three lapel pins on his dark navy suit during Sunday’s National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a symbolic gesture for his journey from poverty in rural southwest Virginia to baseball’s hallowed halls.

One pin represented his path from a “5-foot-nothing, 100-pound-nothing” with a blazing fastball out of Tazewell County. Another was a pin for Ferrum (Va.) College, where he became one of the greatest strikeout pitchers in college history. The last may be the most unlikely of all, the logo of the Baseball Hall of Fame, where Wagner became the eighth relief pitcher ever inducted.

Wagner is the third Houston Astros player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Craig Biggio (2015) and Jeff Bagwell (2017).

“I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like I belong,” Wagner said. “I feel like pinching myself quite often. It’s not something you just wake up … it’s a dream.”

Standing on a stage with 52 living Hall of Famers, many of whom he called his heroes, Wagner delivered a nearly 18-minute speech that touched on his poverty-stricken upbringing, the many influences from an unstable childhood and his rise from small-college pitcher to first-round pick and 422 saves, the eighth most in baseball history.

Before a packed crowd at Clark Sports Center, where a midday storm caused a one-hour delay but stopped just long enough for baseball to celebrate its 76th induction class, Wagner delivered the first speech of the afternoon.

It was a different situation for Billy The Kid, who made a career out of being dominant in the late innings. Wagner was followed by Dave Parker and Dick Allen, both enshrined posthumously, CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki.

“Everybody wanted that spot,” Wagner said. “But I’ve waited the longest. It was good to get that out of the way. I think the longer I had waited, the more emotional I would’ve gotten, so I think they said, ‘Let’s get that guy off the stage as quick as possible.”

In a touching video tribute, Biggio, the Astros’ legendary second baseman, recalled spring training in 1994 when, “the new kid,” Wagner threw for the first time.

“Man, that kid throws hard,” Biggio said. “He’s little, but he throws hard.”

Wagner’s bronze Hall of Fame plaque reads:

Fireballing lefty closer limited baserunners as well as any pitcher in history. Ushered in new era of bullpen dominance, striking out one-third of batters faced across 16-year career. Seven-time All-Star recorded seven seasons with 35-plus saves, becoming fifth pitcher to reach 400 mark. Finished big league career with 422 saves and a 2.31 ERA after playing collegiately at Division III level. Retired at the top of his game as one of only two pitchers ever to finish a career with a sub-1.00 WHIP in more than 500 innings.

In the months since receiving the necessary 75% votes for induction — in typical closer fashion on his 10th and final ballot — Wagner said he had been working on his speech for 54 years.

Other than a few moments when he held back tears, talking about his early life and family, the influence of Lou Peery, the late Tazewell High School baseball coach, and his former Ferrum College coach, Abe Naff, Wagner kept his composure throughout his speech.

From Peery, Wagner said he was taught “love of the game” and “shown trust and love.” Wagner said he cherished his conversations with Naff, about baseball and life, and thanked him for “giving me a home at Ferrum.”

Wagner spent most of his speech reflecting on the first nine seasons of a 16-year major league career spent with the Astros. He thanked former owner Drayton McLane Jr. for “taking a chance on a small-town lefty with a big fastball and a chip on his shoulder” as the No. 12 pick in the 1993 draft and current owner Jim Crane for making him feel welcomed to this day in Houston.

He thanked former managers Terry Collins, Larry Dierker and Jimy Williams. Dierker, he said, had the belief that Wagner could become a successful closer after coming up as a starter in the minor leagues.

Sixteen former Astros attended Wagner’s induction, among them Biggio, Bagwell, Dierker, Moises Alou, Lance Berkman, Mike Hampton, Scott Elarton, Shane Reynolds, Jay Powell, Brad Lidge, Michael Bourn, Dexter Fowler, Jed Lowrie, Mike Magnante, Andy Pettitte and Donne Wall.

Wagner said Biggio “brought consistency every day and a competitive fire” while Bagwell was a “man of few words … it was your look, your stare. That’s what let everyone know that things were OK or if we needed to get our act together.”

As a child, Wagner grew up in poverty and moved around with different relatives until he was 14 years old. His parents divorced when he was 5. He attended 11 different schools, so far behind that he skipped eighth grade. Dinner some nights was water and crackers.

“Mom and dad, you showed me what it meant to work hard, to stay humble, and to never let your circumstances define you,” Wagner said of his mother, Yvonne Hall, and father, Bill “Hotsey” Wagner.

Wagner said the most stable part of his childhood was when his older cousin, Jeff Lamie, convinced his parents, Uncle Jack and Aunt Sally, to let him stay with them.

“Aunt Sally, Uncle Jack, you stepped in when I needed you the most,” Wagner said. “I came to Jeff Lamie’s family when I was 14 years old, and Jeff was a visual example that I needed to see how to be the best.”

Wagner called his four children — Will, currently in the Blue Jays organization; Jeremy, Kason and Olivia — “my greatest joys” and said wife, Sarah, a star basketball player he met at Ferrum, is “the rock of our family.”

“You held it all together while I was chasing a dream,” Wagner said.

Wagner pointed out two other obstacles he had to overcome to reach baseball immortality.

He joins Whitey Ford as the only two pitchers under 6 foot in the Hall. He’s the only Division III player in the Hall.

But what Wagner lacked in size and stature, he made up with the ability to throw a baseball 100 miles per hour.

“When you grow up in a small rural area, this isn’t something you think about,” Wagner said. “You don’t see possible in this.”

Since retiring in 2010, Wagner has spent his time as the head baseball coach at Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Va.

He ended with a message for today’s youth.

“To every kid out there, obstacles are not a roadblock. Obstacles are steppingstones. They build you and shape you. They define you. I wasn’t the biggest, I wasn’t left-handed, I wasn’t supposed to be here. There were only seven full-time relievers in the Hall of Fame, now there are eight, because I refused to give up, or given in. I refused to listen to the outside critics and I never stopped working.”

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