William Edward Wagner (born July 25, 1971), nicknamed "Billy the Kid", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Atlanta Braves from 1995 to 2010.

A left-handed batter and thrower, Wagner stands 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighs 180 pounds (82 kg).

Wagner and his younger sister, Chasity, spent the following 10 years living with various combinations of their parents, their stepparents, and their grandparents in the general Marion area.

To avoid long-term damage to the arm, Wagner, a natural right-hander, began throwing a baseball left-handed.

[2] At 14 years old, Wagner moved in with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, who lived in the Tannersville/Tazewell area about 25 miles (40 km) away from Marion.

Coaches at Ferrum encouraged Wagner to focus on baseball and he would eventually take their advice and stop playing football.

Wagner was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft in June 1993 by the Houston Astros.

[8] Wagner made his first Major League appearance with the Astros, as a late-season promotion from AAA baseball, on September 12, 1995, pitching against one batter late in a 10–5 defeat by the New York Mets.

[citation needed] Wagner struck out the side 13 times in his 66 innings pitched, and his season total of 106 strikeouts set a Houston Astros record for relief pitchers.

On July 15, 1998, while protecting an 8–7 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Wagner was struck by a batted ball on the left side of his head behind his ear.

After pitching there in three games, Wagner was recalled to the Astros on August 6, and he completed the rest of the baseball season there without incident.

Their season ended with a defeat at the hands of the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series.

The 2000 season started off in typical fashion for Wagner, who saved three of the Astros' first four wins while retiring 16 of the first 20 batters he faced.

Wagner continued to struggle before going on the disabled list with a torn flexor tendon in his pitching arm and would miss the final three and a half months of the season.

In that year, he also cemented his status as the hardest-throwing man in baseball by leading the major leagues with 159 pitches at 100 mph or above.

[10] Following the World Series, Wagner criticized the Astros front office for not building a playoff worthy team.

Wagner became a free agent after the 2005 season and signed a four-year, $43-million contract and a one-year club option with the New York Mets.

However, he did not have a good post-season: he recorded three saves, but he lost one game and allowed six runs in the 5+2⁄3 innings that he pitched – an ERA of 10.40.

On August 30, Wagner failed to save the crucial fourth game of a four-game series between the Phillies and Mets.

On May 15, 2008, Wagner issued a tirade full of profanity against his teammates and coaches following the Mets' 1–0 loss in a game against the Washington Nationals.

In September 2008, the Mets announced that Wagner had torn the ulnar collateral ligament of his left elbow and also his flexor pronator tendon.

[17] Despite these statements, Wagner remained on the Mets' 40-man roster on the disabled list at the beginning of the season in 2009, and still drawing his salary.

[citation needed] He pitched for the first time in 2009 for the Mets late in the season on August 20, in a game against the Atlanta Braves.

[18] After initial reports suggested Wagner would invoke his no-trade clause to veto a trade, he agreed to be traded on August 25 for Chris Carter and Eddie Lora, with the added stipulation that the Red Sox could not exercise his $8 million option for 2010, but could offer him salary arbitration.

On December 2, 2009, Wagner and the Atlanta Braves agreed on a one-year contract worth $7 million that included a $6.5-million vesting option for the 2011 season.

[26] Wagner made his final major-league appearance on October 8 in Game 2 of the 2010 National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants.

[31] Of all pitchers with at least 800 innings pitched, Wagner's 11.9 K/9 and 33.2% strikeout rate total batters faced are both the highest in major league history.

He became the eighth player in the modern voting era (since 1966) to be elected on his final ballot, after Red Ruffing, Joe Medwick, Ralph Kiner, Jim Rice, Tim Raines, Edgar Martínez, and Larry Walker.