While fans eagerly wait for the Atlanta Braves to do, well, anything at all, Tuesday brought the announcement of the 2025 Hall of Fame class. Several prominent former Braves were on the ballot with varying chances of induction and outside of a couple shoo-ins at the top of the ballot, this class was among the most difficult to peg.
Billy Wagner's fate was the most anticipated as he finished a heartbreaking five votes shy last year and is in his final year on the ballot. However, guys like Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones have been making in-roads lately as they approach the threshold for induction into Cooperstown and other strong candidates like Chase Utley, Andy Pettite, and Felix Hernandez needed a strong showing to bolster their chances on future ballots.
Well, the results are in and Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and former Brave Billy Wagner have been inducted into Cooperstown.
Ichiro, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner are headed to Cooperstown!
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 21, 2025
Bob Costas reacts to the results of this year's @baseballhall election. pic.twitter.com/l3Gg756FcH
Former Braves reliever Billy Wagner finally makes into Hall of Fame, Andruw Jones makes even more progress
On this year's ballot, there were three former Braves of note in Wagner, Jones, and Brian McCann. Here is how the voting ended up for each of them and what the future holds for them.
Billy Wagner
One way or another, Wagner's quest for the Hall of Fame via the voting ballot was going to come to an end on Tuesday as this was his last chance on the regular ballot. Fortunately, he got good news on Tuesday as he got into Cooperstown with that final try. After appearing on 82.5% of ballots, Wagner is officially a Hall of Famer after far too long a wait.
Former Astros closer Billy Wagner has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his final season of eligibility. Wagner accrued 225 of his 422 career saves across nine seasons with the Astros.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 21, 2025
Andruw Jones
The odds were not great that Andruw would make it into Cooperstown in his eighth year of eligibility, but this round of voting was about making progress. He had already picked up 10 new votes among returning voters who had made their votes known before the Hall of Fame announcement and was on a very respectable 72.7% of such ballots at that point. Jones did end up falling short, but getting 66.2% this year and heading into his final two years on the ballot still has his candidacy trending up with an almost 5% bump from his 2023 vote total.
Brian McCann
While his case for induction into the Hall of Fame is pretty suspect, it was still surprising to see the lack of support that McCann's candidacy got in his first and now only year of eligibility. McCann was widely considered to be one of the best catchers of his era, but he only appeared on 1.8% of ballots and will drop off the ballot as a result as players must get at least 5% to stay on the ballot.