Billy Wagner

[whippoorwill]

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Been watching this video because I've always adored Sid but I have zero recollection of Billy Wagner probably because that was when the Mets went radio silent on me.



Quite a story of his youth!



What do you guys recall of him?

[whippoorwill]

[TransMonk]

He was a major part of the 2006 Division winning team. I remember him being mostly money during his Mets career...even if his personality did not seem like it fit in with NYC.

[kcmets]

http://phpbb3.leaptoad.com/mets/archives/12300/f1_t12355.shtmlMemories of Billy Wagner - CPF Archives, 08/2009

[whippoorwill]

LMAO, that is a perfect response KC!





Obviously not a favorite around here, and now here I am asking you all to remember him again, lolololo.





BTW, what was his walk on music?

[kcmets]

He and Mariano both used

by Metallica, drove some Skank fans nuts...

[whippoorwill]

Haha! I do remember that but not who it was!



Those comments are hilarious

[stevejrogers]

Right now he's just under 70% according to the BBWAA HOF Ballot tracker



https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=F2E5D8FC5199DFAF!47464&ithint=file%2Cxlsx&authkey=!AOiVOHV1SzKLAR0https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=F2E5D8FC5199DFAF!47464&ithint=file%2cxlsx&authkey=!AOiVOHV1SzKLAR0



BTW, Sid apparently forgot that for most of his Met career they had OTD ceremonies and games at Shea!

[smg58]

You look at the anger in our responses, and you look at Wagner's actual performance with the Mets, and you have to wonder what the disconnect is. I think it may be just be the fate of closers, magnified by the frustrating ends to those seasons.

[whippoorwill]

The other weird thing is that in 2006 my dad was still alive, and I remember being able to watch the Mets, and discussing them with him daily.



In other words, I must have just plumb forgotten about poor Billy Wagner.





He seems like a nice enough fellow on this video though

[metirish]

metirish

Aug 25 2009 11:52 AM

My abiding memory is the stupidity over his entrance music and the utter stupidity of Mike and the Mad Dog over it.



🤣 Only Mariano can use that song

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I didn't like the "Know your place, rook" sign he put on Lastings Milledge's locker. A better leader would have tried to sit down with the young player and try to help him adjust, and help the team overall. Instead he came off as a red-assed, cranky old timer.



But on the mound he got the job done and probably will get in the Hall of Fame.

[RealityChuck]

He was the last lockdown Mets closer until Diaz.



Familia came close, but Wagner nearly always cam through.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I have always been against paying full retail for a closer. I much preferred Orosco and Familia to Rodriguez and Wagner. In a matter of taste.



Also for all his greatness Wags did let us down in that postseason. He also burned up chances for Houston and Philly. Nature of the biz I suppose.

[Lefty Specialist]

Wagner had really made his name with the Astros and Phils before becoming a Met. And he wasn't a New York-style kind of guy; he always seemed like he was there for the money (most players are, but he didn't even try to fake it).



Had a damn fine career and deserves to be in the HOF.

[kcmets]

Pretty good write-up https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/billy-wagner/here, for those wanting to know more NOW!!!

[metirish]

As mentioned in the article, and I had forgotten, Billy was naturally right handed but learned to throw lefty ( broke right arm as a kid )

[Edgy MD]

Though he came to the Mets through a very different path, I kinda associate Billy Wagner and R.A. Dickey. Both came out of broken homes in Bible Belt poverty. Both ended up climbing out through a combination of baseball and being welcomed into a new home (Wagner moving in with relatives and Dickey with a friend's family).



Both found a seemingly one-in-a-million way to adapt to an injury (Wagner as a kid, Dickey as an adult) and make it to the bigs. Both had a bit of pride in making it in cynical northeast cities after their Bible Belty upbringings, but both wrapped up their careers in Atlanta. Both kind of tried to maintain a balance between jocky arrogance and professional humilty. Relatedly, both were smarter than the average bear, but capable of being the dope. Both publicly present themselves as family guys in a manner you maybe sorta respect but maybe sorta find suspicious and maybe both. Both wrung as much as they could out of their baseball careers and moved on energetically to their post-baseball lives, investing themselves in charitable outreach in a manner you maybe sorta respect but maybe sorta find suspicious and maybe both.



Both have quixotic side interests. Both loved baseball but didn't need to stay in the game afterwards. Both published memoirs about what they overcame. Most do that, maybe, but I'm on a roll. Both probably wanna hang out with Tim McGraw.

[whippoorwill]

This has turned out to be an even better thread than I expected.



One sad note about the video…something Sid and Billy have in common—both of their fathers-in-law were shot to death while helping others

Billy's mother-in-law too