Former Philadelphia closer Billy Wagner continues to spread his love of baseball

Jan. 24—Billy Wagner, a seven-time All-Star closer who spent two years with the Philadelphia Phillies, was one of three keynote speakers at the 62nd annual Reading Hot Stovers Banquet last Thursday at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Reading.

A remarkable career had an unusual beginning as Wagner, a natural right-hander, had to learn to throw lefty as a child after breaking his arm not once, but twice when he was 7 years old.

"I was 7 years old when I broke my arm the first time (playing football), and then it was probably right after I got the cast off I fell off a monkey bar and broke my arm again," Wagner said. "So it's one of those blessings in disguise that you don't see at the time, but it's that blessing in disguise that gave me this opportunity."

The blessing in disguise paved way for Wagner's 422 career saves, which ranks sixth all-time, and a 16-year career that included stints with the Houston Astros, Phillies, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox.

He pitched for Philadelphia from 2004-05 and went 8-3 with a 1.86 ERA and 59 saves in 66 opportunities. He finished his career with a 47-40 record, a 2.31 ERA and has the most saves in Astros' history with 225. He is one of eight major league relief pitchers to record at least 400 career saves.

On Tuesday, Wagner narrowly missed being elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as he received 73.8 percent of the votes, just shy of the 75 percent required to earn a spot. Former players Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer were elected, joining former manager Jim Leyland in the 2024 class.

Wagner received 68.1 percent of the votes in 2023 and now has one year of eligibility remaining.

"It's one of those things that, as an athlete, it's the pinnacle for your career," Wagner said last Thursday about possibly being inducted. "I think we'd all love to get that achievement. When you're on the ballot, especially as long as I've been on it, I think it's a great accomplishment. I think it speaks volumes for a lot of the people that helped me to get to this point, and it's just a moment that will probably be surreal."

Still very much connected to baseball, Wagner, 52, is the head coach at The Miller School of Albemarle in Albemarle, Virginia. Since retiring from baseball following the 2010 season with Atlanta, Wagner is focused on growing the game and sharing the passion that drove him to a career worthy of Hall-of-Fame recognition.

"What I like doing is promoting baseball," Wagner said. "The best way to promote baseball is with the youth. So when you have a chance to come to a place like the Hot Stovers who love to share the wealth of knowledge, and they bring in tremendous people like Leah (O'Brien Amico), it's something that you want to be a part of.

"Loving baseball means you want to spread baseball."

Wagner has indeed shared his love of baseball since his retirement. Since he became the coach of the Mavericks in 2013, Wagner has led The Miller School of Albemarle to three Virginia Independent School Athletic Association state championships and has even seen his own children follow in his love for athletics.

His oldest son, Will Wagner, is a third baseman who was recently invited to spring training with the Houston Astros. An 18th-round draft pick in 2021, he has spent time with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks and the Triple-A Sugarland Space Cowboys.

Wagner's son, Jeremy, plays outfield at Towson University and his daughter, Olivia, plays basketball at Radford University. Wagner coaches his youngest son at The Miller School of Albemarle.

"It gives me an opportunity to be with them," Wagner said about coaching and being involved with his family. "It's why I retired, but it's also to grow the game and teach them the way I feel the game should be played."

Wagner encourages everyone to embrace the wisdom being shared by their elders, as sometimes small details from someone else's life can have a big impact on your own.

"Embrace the moment and know that this is a great opportunity to further their education and really take some knowledge from a lot of people that are here," Wagner said about the importance of the Hot Stovers Banquet for current athletes. "Ask questions and pay attention to the to the details because I feel like a lot of times you come to these events and you can overlook the little things that might give you that little kooky thing that gets you over the hump."

Wagner was a part of history on June 11, 2003, when he closed out a combined no-hitter thrown by a record six pitchers — Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Wagner — against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. At the time, it was the first no-hitter thrown at Yankee Stadium since 1952.

Wagner's 1-2-3 ninth inning marked his first appearance at Yankee Stadium. With two outs, Hideki Matsui grounded out to first baseman Jeff Bagwell on Wagner's first pitch, and Bagwell tossed the ball to Wagner — who was covering first — to close out the game.

"It was just phenomenal to be a part of," Wagner said. "And for my first appearance ever, being in that setting of Yankee Stadium was something that I will always remember.

"It was 8-0 (going into the ninth), so it wasn't really like you had to worry about (getting the win). It was just a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium that hadn't been no-hit (in) 50-some years.

"And in the whole build up to that game, the New York press mentioned (things like) 'the Yankees haven't been no-hit in so long' and 'ghosts come out at night games in Yankee Stadium.' So all of a sudden you throw a no-hitter and you're looking at it and go, 'Well, I guess the ghosts took that night off.'

"It was surreal, but as a reliever you don't get to enjoy it quite as much because you don't get four or five days (off) to kind of enjoy it. You got to be ready to go the next night."

As a member of the Phillies, Wagner said the biggest difference in changing markets was the level of attention given by the local media covering the organization.

Wagner said the level of focus placed on him by members of the Philadelphia press brought out the best in him and pushed him to have two of the best seasons of his career. In addition, the diligent attention paid to Philadelphia athletes made it all the easier to play in other cities later in his career.

"When I came from Houston, it was completely different because Houston wasn't as passionate, and I wouldn't say it was everybody, but they weren't always very vocal," Wagner said. "The Astrodome was so big that you couldn't tell when there were 35,000 people (there), but in Philly, they're right on top of you and there's a different passion.

"I think the passion and the desire to win and the expectation for a player to be at his best (sets Philadelphia apart)," Wagner said. "I had two of my best years in Philly stat-wise because that's the expectation. And you were supposed to do that.

"And I think Philadelphia made it easier to go to New York because it was just one of those things that you just knew what was expected. You had to learn how to deal with press, and when I came from Houston to Philadelphia, I didn't know how to handle press because I never had any press."

Wagner received pushback from the Philadelphia media and fanbase during the 2005 season for dismissing the team's postseason chances midway through the year. Despite the backlash, Wagner explained that learning how to navigate high-pressure situations with the press is another beneficial lesson he can share with the next generation of athletes.

"I don't think I always handled all questions the way that I probably could have," Wagner said. "I think it was easy to misconstrue what I was saying and I wasn't one to back away from the question. I just answered it, and it wasn't meant to be harmful, but a lot of times it's easier to be used in that way, and that was something you had to learn.

"I didn't worry about the pressure because I knew what I needed to do on the field. It was really just answering questions in a way that I couldn't be misconstrued. I think that the biggest issue was, my southwest Virginia slang could be misconstrued as being something when I didn't mean any of it.

"So them learning me and me learning them and learning how to answer a question in a way that wasn't meant to be taken out of context was the hardest thing to learn. But, it's something that going through all that has allowed me to help more and more kids navigate their situations."