Billy Wagner

Pitching the final inning of a combined no-hitter against the Yankees, Wagner struck out Jorge Posada and Bubba Trammell, then got Hideki Matsui to ground out to first base where Wagner, who was covering, pumped his fist as the final piece of instant baseball history was engraved at Yankee Stadium (June 11, 2003).
. In a ten-year career, Wagner has compiled a 34-30 record with 753 strikeouts, a 2.52 ERA, and 246 saves in 552.2 innings.
. This and many other miscues in the Phillies organization led to the dismissal of manager Larry Bowa after a preseason full of hopefuls and expectations dissolved from the ticket window by August. He has been awarded honorary degrees from several US and European Universities. He was traded to Philadelphia before the 2004 season, only to have his campaign succumb to a strain in his throwing shoulder. Apart from his Nobel Prize, Wałęsa received several other international prizes.

Then, he enjoyed his best season in 2003, when he reached career-highs in saves (44), innings pitched (86.0) and games (78), and got 105 strikeouts. A month later, Wałęsa went to the U.S., representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan. In 2002, Wagner went 4-2 with a 2.52 ERA, 88 strikeouts, and 35 saves in 75 innings. There was some controversy if the name should be spelled Lech Walesa (without diacritics, but better recognizable in the world) or Lech Wałęsa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners). In 62.2 innings, he struck out 79 hitters. His signature has been incorporated into the airport's logo. He was one of the leading candidates for TSN Comeback Player of the Year in the National League. In May 10, 2004, the Gdańsk international airport has been officially renamed to Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdańsk citizen.

Coming off elbow surgery, he posted a record of 2-5 with 39 saves in 41 chances, and an ERA of 2.73. From that time on he has been lecturing on the history and politics of Central Europe at various foreign universities. He would rebound in 2001. After that Wałęsa again claimed his political retirement. He finished with 2-4 record, a 6.18 ERA, and six saves in 15 opportunities, striking out 28 and walking 18 in 27.2 innings. Wałęsa again stood for the presidential election in 2000, but he received less than 1% of votes. Wagner would continue to struggle before going on the disabled with a torn flexor tendon in his pitching arm and would miss the final three and a half months of the season. The real leader of the party and its main organizer was a new Solidarity Trade Union leader, Marian Krzaklewski.

While he was still hitting 100-MPH on the radar gun, he wasn't throwing his 85-90 MPH slider as much as he used to. However, his support was of minor significance and Wałęsa held a very low position in this party. But after recording a save on May 4 against the Cubs, he suffered back-to-back blown saves on May 12-13 versus the Reds. In 1997 Wałęsa supported and helped to organize a new party called "Solidarity Electoral Action" (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) which won the parliamentary elections. 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. After that he claimed to go to "political retirement", but he was still active, trying to establish his own political party. Wagner posted a 4-1 record with an ERA of 1.57, and actually had more saves than hits allowed (in 74.2 innings, he allowed 35 hits). Wałęsa lost the 1995 presidential election.

He saved 39 games and struck out 124 in only 74 innings (15 SO/9), establishing a new major league record for strikeouts in at least 50 innings, including the side 15 times. However, during his presidency Poland was completely changed, from an oppressive communist country under strict Soviet control and with a weak economy to an independent and democratic country with a fast growing free-market economy. Wagner had an outstanding 1999 season, in which he captured the Relief Man of the Year Award in the National League. His style of presidency was however strongly criticized by most of the political parties, and he lost most of the initial public support by the end of 1995. After working three games, he was recalled on August 6 and remained healthy for the rest of the season. During his presidency he started so called "war at the top" which practically meant changing the government annually. Wagner worked on balanced and coordination exercises before being cleared by doctors to go a rehab assignment in the minors. On December 9, 1990 Wałęsa won the presidential election to become president of Poland for the next five years.

The next day, he returned to Houston and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Poland, while still a communist country in theory, started to change its economy to the free market system. He was removed from the field on a stretcher after suffering a concussion and spent the night at a Phoenix hospital. After that agreement, to the big surprise of the Communist Party, the parliament chose Tadeusz Mazowiecki for prime minister of Poland. Wagner was alert and conscious on the ground as his vital signs remained good. At the end of 1989 he persuaded leaders from formally communist ally parties to form a non-communist coalition government, which was the first non-communist government in the Soviet Bloc. On July 15, while trying to hold on to a 8-7 lead against Arizona, he was struck on the left side of his head behind the ear by a line drive off the bat of Kelly Stinnett. While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union at the time Wałęsa played a key role in Polish politics.

He converted 19 consecutive save opportunities between his first blown save against the Dodgers (April 12) and his second facing the Cardinals (July 11). Formally it was just an advisory body, but practically it was a kind of a political party, which won parliament elections in 1989 (Opposition took 48% of seats in the Sejm out of 49% that were subject of free elections and all but one seats in the newly re-established senate; the remaining 51% of seats were given automatically to Communist Party according to the Round Table agreements). In 1998, Wagner posted a 4-3 record with a 2.70 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 60 innings, and saved 30 games, which was the third best single season in club history. In 1989 Wałęsa organized and led the Citizenship Committee of the Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union. He struck out the side 13 times, and his 106 strikeouts also set a club record for relievers. During the talks the government signed an agreement to re-establish the Solidarity Trade Union and to organize "half-free" elections to Polish parliament. He converted 23 of 29 save opportunities while striking out 106 hitters in only 66.1 innings, which established a major league record for SO/9 at 14.4, breaking the old mark of 14.1 set by former Reds closer Rob Dibble in 1992 (110 SO in 70.1 innings). Wałęsa was an informal leader of the "non-governmental" side during the talks.

In 1997 Wagner played his first full season in the majors. After eighty days the government agreed to enter into round-table talks in September. Opponents hit only .165 against him. In 1988 Wałęsa organized an occupational strike in Gdańsk Shipyard, demanding only the re-legalisation of the Solidarity Trade Union. He finished the year with nine saves in 13 opportunities, allowed only 28 hits and struck out 67 hitters in 51.2 innings (11.7 SO/9). From 1987 to 1990 Wałęsa organized and led the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union. His contract was purchased by the Astros on June 2, and Wagner was immediately converted to a reliever. Wałęsa donated the prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters in exile (in Brussels).

He posted a 6-2 record with a 3.28 ERA in twelve starts for Triple-A Tucson. He was unable to receive the prize himself, fearing that the government would not let him back in, so his wife Danuta Wałęsowa received the prize in his place. Wagner began 1996 in the minors as a starter and finished it by becoming a major league closer. 1983 also saw Wałęsa being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It was his only appearance in this season. While formally treated as a "simple worker", he was practically under house arrest until 1987. He made his major league debut on September 12, 1995, retiring the only batter he faced in a 10-5 defeat against the Mets. In 1983 he applied to come back to Gdańsk Shipyard to his former position as a simple electrician.

Wagner was taken in the first round of the June 1993 MLB draft by the Houston Astros and was used exclusively as a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. He was interned for 11 months in south-eastern Poland near the Soviet border until November 14, 1982. Wagner was inducted into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall Of Fame in Salem, Virginia, in February of 2003. Wałęsa kept this position until December 1981, when Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law. Wagner attended Ferrum College and went 17-3 there, while setting single season NCAA records for strikeouts per nine innings (19.1 in 1992) and fewest hits per nine innings allowed (1.58 in 1992), and holds the Division III mark for career strikeouts (327 in 182.1 innings pitched). The Strike Coordination Committee legalized itself into National Coordination Committee of Solidarność Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee. As a youth, he was a natural right-handed pitcher, but after breaking his throwing arm twice, he taught himself how to use his left arm by throwing nothing but fastballs against a barn wall. In September of that year, the Communist government signed an agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organization, but not actual free trade unions.

Wagner is a highly regarded closer in the fact that he routinely throws triple digit fastballs which is rather unusual for his 5'11", 195 lb frame. Several days later he stopped workers who wanted to leave Gdańsk Shipyard, and persuaded them to organize the Strike Coordination Committee (Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy) to lead and support the naturally occurred general strike in Poland. He bats and throws left-handed. The strike was spontaneously followed by similar strikes across Poland. Previously, Wagner played with the Houston Astros (1995-2003). In August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard, Wałęsa illegally scaled the wall of the Shipyard and became the leader of this strike. William Edward (Billy) Wagner (born July 25, 1971 in Tannersville, Virginia) is an American Major League Baseball closer for the Philadelphia Phillies (2004-present). He was arrested several times in 1979 for organizing an "anti-state" organization, but not found guilty in court and released at the beginning of 1980, after which he re-entered the Gdańsk shipyard.

Led league in games finished (2003). In 1978, together with Andrzej Gwiazda and Aleksander Hall, he organized the illegal underground Free Trade Union of Pomerania (Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża). Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award (1999). Due to his being on an informal blacklist, he couldn't find another job and lived at the time thanks to his friends' personal help. 4-time All-Star (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005). In 1976 Wałęsa lost his job in Gdańsk Shipyard for collecting signatures for a petition to build a memorial for the killed workers. After the bloody end of the strike, resulting in over 80 workers killed by the riot police, Wałęsa was arrested and convicted of "anti-social behaviour", spending one year in prison.

He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdańsk Shipyard in 1970. In 1969 he married Danuta Gołoś, and the couple now have eight children. Lenina, now Stocznia Gdańska) as an electrical technician in 1967. He attended primary and vocational school, before entering Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk (Stocznia Gdańska im.