HOUSTON -- Billy Wagner, a flame-throwing left-hander who was one of the elite strikeout artists 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 his 10th and final year on the ballot ¨C a down-to-the-wire finish fitting for a closer.

Wagner, who finished five votes shy of election, became the eighth player to be elected in his final year on the ballot by garnering 82.5 percent of the votes revealed Tuesday by the Baseball Writers¡¯ Association of America. He¡¯ll be inducted July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y., with Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Dave Parker and Dick Allen.

¡°Everything I do has been a blessing,¡± Wagner said. ¡°To look back and see that I¡¯m the first left-handed reliever, the first Division III [college player], the first guy from the state of Virginia in the Hall of Fame as a baseball player, those things that are meaningful.¡±

Wagner, a seven-time All-Star, finished his career with 422 saves in 16 seasons with the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Braves -- the eighth most all time and second most by a left-hander behind John Franco (424). Wagner used an electric 100-mph fastball to generate incredible power from his small frame, making him one of the most dominant pitchers in history.

¡°I still think the hardest pitch to hit is a good fastball,¡± he said. ¡°Now, the guys who go out on the mound and throw 100 and 105, everybody is 6-foot-4 or better. The days of seeing a Billy Wagner or Roy Oswalt walk out there and do those things, you maybe see that every once in a while, but it¡¯s a different game when it comes to physicality.¡±

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Among pitchers with at least 900 innings, Wagner ranks first all time in opponents¡¯ batting average (.187), strikeouts per nine innings (11.92) and hits per nine innings (5.99) and second in WHIP (0.997) and opponents¡¯ OPS (.558). He¡¯s the ninth reliever elected to the Hall of Fame, joining Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley, Hoyt Wilhelm, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter.

¡°God blessed me with the ability, but he also put me in situations where I could be successful because of the [teammates] in front of me,¡± Wagner said.

Wagner¡¯s path to Cooperstown was as long as it was unlikely.

A natural right-hander, Wagner broke his right arm twice at seven years old and learned to throw left-handed by tossing a ball against a barn in rural Virginia. A first-round selection out of Division III Ferrum College in the 1993 MLB Draft, Wagner came up through the Astros' system as a starting pitcher before making the transition to reliever following a call-up to Houston in 1995.

Even this Hall of Fame path wasn¡¯t easy. Wagner garnered just 10.2 percent of the vote in his second year on the ballot in 2017 but made sizable jumps in each of his next seven years. He is the only candidate in the modern election era (post 1967) to receive fewer than 15 percent of the vote in three separate BBWAA elections before eventually earning a spot in Cooperstown.

¡°Anybody who knows me well knows that I¡¯m very impatient,¡± Wagner said. ¡°As the road got closer to this point in time, there was times where I was very optimistic, but last year and missing out and the hype of everybody saying no one has missed out when they¡¯ve gotten this close and waiting for the other shoe to fall, it¡¯s not been an easy 10 years to sit here and swallow a lot of things you have to swallow.¡±

Wagner saved a club-record 225 games in his nine years with the Astros (1995-03), making three All-Star teams and finishing fourth in the 1999 National League Cy Young Award voting. His ¡¯99 season was one of the most dominant by any closer in history. Wagner had 39 saves in 42 chances, a 1.57 ERA, 124 strikeouts and 35 hits in 74 2/3 innings. He held opponents to a .135 batting average and had 14.95 strikeouts per nine innings.

¡°We had a lot of success over the years together and you're not having the success we had without a Billy Wagner,¡± Hall of Fame teammate Craig Biggio said. ¡°When you turn the ball over to a guy like that in the ninth inning, it's game, set, match usually. For us to have that at the back end of a team that was very successful for a long period of time, totally deserving of him getting his credit today."

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The Astros traded Wagner to the Phillies in 2003, and he had another All-Star season in '05, saving 38 games. Wagner went on to record 101 saves in three seasons for the Mets, making the All-Star team in 2007-08. He notched his 300th career save with New York in '06 and made three more All-Star teams after that.

¡°I joined the Mets because going to New York would be one way to try to get to the Hall of Fame, and it wasn¡¯t going to be easy when you have the greatest closer across town [Rivera],¡± Wagner said. ¡°I also knew coming from a small town, the environment was going to be difficult.¡±

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In his final year in the big leagues, with the Braves in 2010, Wagner was as good as ever. He recorded 37 saves, posted a 1.43 ERA and struck out 104 batters in 69 1/3 innings, earning his final All-Star nod. He also reached 400 career saves during that season. In the final regular-season inning of his career, Wagner struck out all three of the batters he faced looking.

¡°TBS was on both of my grandparents¡¯ TV every night so you can¡¯t help but being a Braves fan,¡± he said. ¡°Getting that opportunity to play for my favorite team growing up was an honor, but getting to play for a Hall of Fame coach like Bobby Cox was something you can¡¯t put into words.¡±

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Wagner had announced his retirement earlier that season, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. He's followed through on that promise, having served as head baseball coach at the Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Va., since 2011.

Wagner coached two of his sons, including Will, who was traded to the Blue Jays from the Astros last year and made his Major League debut. Most of his family was with him Tuesday when he got the call -- a moment that was a long time coming and represents the final piece to an amazing career.

¡°I would have done anything to be in the big leagues,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s the greatest experience in the world to be there and walk on the field with Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio and guys like that. If they wanted me to carry the water cooler, I would have done that, too.¡±