Phillies: What Will it Take for Billy Wagner to Reach Cooperstown?
By John Town
Former Phillies reliever Billy Wagner continues to appear on Hall of Fame ballots but can’t seem to reach Cooperstown. What will it take for him to get there?
To the surprise of few, no Phillies received enough votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Pat Burrell, Matt Stairs, Arthur Rhodes, and J.D. Drew all failed to receive even a single vote and were removed from the ballot altogether. Curt Schilling received 45% of the vote, failing to reach the 75% threshold and therefore will not be inducted.
One other former Phillie, Billy Wagner, did receive votes in his second year on the ballot. He wound up with 45 votes, 10.2% of the total voting pool. To get into the Hall, he will need to collect 330 votes overall.
As long as Wagner continues to get more than 5% of the vote, he will have eight more chances to get into the Hall before his time expires. Does Wagner have a realistic chance to get to Cooperstown? Let’s break it down.