The Houston Astros recruited heavy artillery first baseman Christian Walker to a three-year contract in the offseason. At the press conference of the franchise, he chose No. 13 as the back number. Today, however, the Astros announced that they will retire the jersey of Hall of Fame rookie Billy Wagner, who also happens to be No. 13, in August. In other words, Walker had to change his number.

When Wagner received a congratulatory message from his induction into the Hall of Fame, he burst into tears. "It's really hard to wait for people who don't know you to vote for you," he said in an interview. Today, the Astros announced the retirement of the legendary player's back number, which is the ninth retirement back number in the history of the Astros. The retirement ceremony will be held on August 16 this year before the Astros' home game.

Billy Wagner, a left-shot finisher who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year and has made 422 career rescues, is not only waiting 10 years to finally be inducted into Cooper (the seat of the Baseball Hall of Fame), but the Astros, who played for the first nine seasons of his career, will retire his No. 13 jersey.

Wagner was inducted into this year's Hall of Fame vote with 82.5 percent of the vote. According to the Hall of Fame, players who have played in the major leagues for 10 seasons and have been retired for more than 5 years are eligible to run, and must receive at least 75% of the votes to be selected. If you are unsuccessful, you can participate again in the following year, but only up to 10 times. And Wagner finally reached the target in the final year.

The left-throw finisher has a total of 422 successful rescues in his career, ranking 8th all-time and 2nd among left-handed pitchers, behind only John Franco's 424. If it weren't for his brave retreat, this record might have been rewritten, as he still contributed 37 successful rescues in the final year of his career, with a defense rate of just 1.43, which is a ghostly performance.

The Astros signed former Arizona Sidewinders heavy gunner Walker last December to a three-year, $60 million contract. In each of the past three seasons, Walker has shown great long-range firepower, hitting 95 home runs in 447 games, contributing 281 RBIs and a WAR value of 11.4.

At the end of last year, the Astros held a press conference for Walker and put on the No. 13 jersey for him as the back of the new season. But Wagner, who played for the Astros for nine years, received 82.5% of the votes in the recent Hall of Fame vote, and was inducted into Cooper Town (the seat of the Hall of Fame) in his tenth election. Because of this, the team decided to retire the No. 13 jersey that Wagner wore when he played for the Astros.

According to media reports, after the Astros announced the retirement of Wagner's jersey, Walker's back number for the new season will be changed to No. 8.