A star athlete from rural Western Virginia is now enshrined with a plaque at Cooperstown.
And by next year, Baseball Hall of Fame relief pitcher Billy Wagner will also have a permanent marker in his hometown.
A native of Tazewell, where he pitched in high school, Wagner learned in January that he’d been elected to this year’s Hall of Fame class. A local hero, there are signs on each end of town celebrating his big-league career.
But a committee formed a couple months later was tasked with doing something more. Local attorney Brad Pyott was tasked with leading that effort.
"(It's) such a larger than life thing that he had done," he said. "And we felt that something larger than life ought to be done to recognize it."
Pyott thought about a while about what to do, and where to put something praising Wagner's accomplishments. He ultimately decided a statue of Wagner, delivering one of his signature fastballs, would be the best way to honor him.
And they’ll place it Tazewell’s mini park on Main Street.
Also involved in the statue fundraising effort is Brad Strong, who was an assistant baseball and football coach of Wagner's at Tazewell High School.
"You didn't see that as a freshman," he explained. "He came in at 130 pounds, maybe. He was always told that we was going to be too small to do anything. That was just fuel for the fire."
Wagner learned to throw left-handed after breaking his right arm twice as a child. A pitcher for Ferrum College, he's the first player from a Division Three school elected to the Hall of Fame, and the first lefty reliever to be elected to Hall. Wagner ended up with 422 saves in a 16-year big league career, pitching for five major league clubs.
In his speech at Cooperstown Sunday, he said “obstacles aren’t a roadblock, they’re a stepping stone.”
Brad Pyott said it took some coaxing of Wagner, who's pretty humble, to convince him of the honor in his hometown.
“To do this was above and beyond in his eyes, but for us, it was a thank you, and felt like something we had to do ourselves, and we could accomplish ourselves, to reflect what appreciation we had for what he’d accomplished," he said.
With the help of a South Carolina sculptor, Maria Kirby-Smith, Pyott's group is working to raise the roughly $250,000 necessary for the bronze statue and surrounding area – work that includes electrical work, landscaping, plumbing, and masonry.
Tazewell County Circuit Clerk Charity Hurst is also on the panel.
“He represents the best of our community," she exclaimed. "The determination, excellence. His story, being from a small town in Virginia, and going into the MLB, it’s inspired countless young athletes, and continues to be a source of local pride.”
The fundraising kicked off Saturday with Tazewell’s Main Street Moments, that includes raffling off a baseball by Wagner and some Houston Astros memorabilia.
A Facebook page has also been started to raise funds for the statue effort. Plans will also include the opportunity for donors to purchase a personalized brick that will be showcased as part of the future Billy Wagner Park.
Wagner is now the head baseball coach at The Miller School of Albemarle. His son is now in the major leagues. Will Wagner is an infielder with the Toronto Blue Jays.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
