PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies legends Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins hope to follow Billy Wagner¡¯s path to Cooperstown, N.Y.

The former Phillies closer learned on Tuesday night that he has been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, in his 10th and final year of eligibility, by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Wagner¡¯s name needed to appear on 75% of ballots for enshrinement. It appeared on 82.5 %.

Wagner, who pitched for the Phillies from 2004-05, will join Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Dave Parker and Phillies star Dick Allen, who will be inducted posthumously, in the Hall of Fame induction ceremony this summer.

It was a long and often tortuous road for Wagner, who ranged from 10% to 17% in his first four years on the ballot before he started to climb.

He finished just five votes short last year, prompting him to tell people that he had no plans to watch the live announcement on MLB Network.

¡°I¡¯m not going to know,¡± Wagner said late last month on The Phillies Show. ¡°That¡¯s too hard. I know my kids will be keeping up with it. I know I¡¯ll be very anxious because I know what this is. I know what¡¯s on the line right here. It¡¯ll be difficult to find a way to get through 6 o¡¯clock, to be honest with you. I¡¯ve had conversations with the Hall of Fame going, ¡®Hey, you know, it looks like this, we need to have a conver --.¡¯ I¡¯m like, ¡®Nope, kiss of death. I¡¯m not talking to nobody.¡¯

¡°I¡¯m not trying to be that guy, but my lifestyle, growing up has always been waiting on the other shoe to fall. I¡¯m not going to sit here and put myself in such a situation where it¡¯s so disappointing that I have to apologize for being upset. And so, the less people who are around me, the better.¡±

But the other shoe didn¡¯t fall.

Instead, Wagner shed tears of joy.

It should give hope to Utley, Rollins and outfielder Bobby Abreu. Utley, the former second baseman, got 39.8% of the vote in his second year on the ballot, jumping 11 points from his first year. It is an encouraging second-year showing for Utley.

Abreu got 19.5% in his sixth year. He got 14.8% last year.

Rollins, the Phillies¡¯ longtime shortstop, got 18% in his fourth year. He got 14.8% last year.

• The wild story of how Billy Wagner went from righty to lefty

Rollins, the Phillies¡¯ longtime shortstop, got 18% in his fourth year. He got 14.8% last year.

Abreu needs to make significant gains beginning next year to have a chance at induction before his 10 years of eligibility expires. Rollins has more time. So does Utley.

But Wagner¡¯s journey shows it can be done. Here¡¯s a look at how his vote share increased over time:

? 2016: 10.5%
? 2017: 10.2%
? 2018: 11.1%
? 2019: 16.7%
? 2020: 31.7%
? 2021: 46.4%
? 2022: 51.0%
? 2023: 68.1% (27 votes short)
? 2024: 73.8% (5 votes short)
? 2025: 82.5% (29 votes over the threshold)

Another former Phillies player who saw consistent jumps in vote share is Scott Rolen. He appeared on 10.2% of ballots in his first year in 2018. He jumped to 17.2% in 2019, then 35.3% in 2020, 52.9% in 2021 and 63.2% in 2022 before he got to 76.3% in 2023 in his sixth year.

Utley is 22.6 percentage points ahead of Rolen after his second year.