Is ex-Phillie Billy Wagner a true Hall of Famer even though he is considered a Phillies’ villain? Is Chase Utley on Cooperstown’s doorstep? And how about the Mets’ John Franco? Is he a Hall of Famer?

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.

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.

Billy Wagner, a flamethrowing left-hander who was one of the elite closers of his generation, will take his place among the game’s greatest players of all-time after being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in voting revealed Tuesday.

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 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,

Ichiro Suzuki missed unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote Tuesday night when he headlined a three-player class selected by the 394 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseball’s Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected Tuesday along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.

Billy Wagner is here to compete with eight relievers including Goose Gossage, Mariano Rivera, Hoyt Wilhelm, Trevor Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, and Lee Smith.

The left-handed flamethrower is by some measures the hardest pitcher to make contact off of in MLB history. In his final year of BBWAA eligibility, his election may come down to the wire.

In Billy Wagner’s case, the answer is a definite ... Hall members Hoffman (601) and Mariano Rivera (652) are far and away the all-time leaders, with Wagner considerably further behind in eighth ...