BAGWELL GETS PLACE IN COOPERSTOWN
7th try on ballot yields election for Astros great; induction July 30
Jeff Bagwell has autographed countless baseballs. On Wednesday, he signed his first ball with this inscription accompanying his signature: “HOF ’17.”
Bagwell, synonymous with the golden age of the Astros and one of the best first basemen of his era, was elected Wednesday to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He will be only the secon player enshrined in an Astros cap, appropriately joining 2015 inductee Craig Biggio, Bagwell’s teammate for all 15 seasons of his major league career.
Overwhelmed by the news, Bagwell was at a loss for words in describing the feeling. “It’s just kind of surreal right now,” he said. Bagwell, 48, spoke emotion-in a terminal George Bush Intercontinental Airport minutes before boarding an evening flight to New York City, where he and fellow electees Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez will share a news conference stage Thursday afternoon.
The Astros icon was only two hours removed from receiving his life-changing phone call while at home with his wife and children.
Needing the support of 75 percent of the voters, Bagwell appeared on 86.2 percent (381 of 442) of this year’s ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
His vote total was the highest of the three elected. Raines, the longtime Montreal Expos outfielder and leadoff hitter extraordinaire, appeared on one fewer ballot (86 percent). Rodriguez, a 14-time AllStar catcher and 13-time Gold Glove Award winner, eked out a close call to earn election behind 76 percent support. Rodriguez, whose Hall of Fame plaque will have him in a Texas Rangers cap, played 93 games with the Astros late in his career.
Trevor Hoffman was the closest among the candidates who must wait at least until next year, falling five votes shy of election in his first year on the ballot. Vladimir Guerrero finished 15 votes shy of election.
“I’m still kind of in shock,” said Bagwell, for whom the Astros will hold a public rally at 5 p.m. Monday at Minute Maid Park’s Union Station lobby. “I’m excited. I’m happy. It’s just very cool.”
This year’s induction ceremony will take place July 30 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Bagwell is the 50th Hall of Famer to spend his entire major league career with one team. He and Biggio are the fourth pair of Hall of Fame teammates to accomplish that while playing together for at least 15 years. Their company includes Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski (Pittsburgh Pirates), Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott (New York Giants) and Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle (New York Yankees).
“It’s a great day for him and his family and obviously the Astros organization and his teammates and the fans,” Biggio said of Bagwell. “He was a tremendous player who did some amazing things here, and now to have two Astros be in the Hall of Fame who played together for 15 years, it’s pretty exciting stuff.” Model of consistency
Coronation for Bagwell came in his seventh year of Hall of Fame eligibility, the former slugger’s candidacy having slowed in part because of a backlog of candidates and writers who withheld their support because of steroid suspicion. After he finished only 15 votes shy of election last year, it was expected this would be Bagwell’s year.
The National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1991, its MVP in 1994 and a fourtime All-Star, Bagwell is the Astros’ all-time leader in home runs (449), RBIs (1,529) and walks (1,401). He ranks second behind Biggio in hits (2,314), total bases (4,213) and games (2,150).
Unique for batting with a signature crouch in his stance, Bagwell was one of the most consistent allaround hitters of the 1990s and early 2000s. For six consecutive seasons from 1996 to 2001, he eclipsed 30 home runs, 100 RBIs and 100 runs. In 9,431 career plate appearances, he batted .297 with on-base and slugging percentages of .408 and .540.
Along with Biggio, Bagwell was a cornerstone for the most successful era of Astros baseball, a span that included four National League Central titles and culminated in the franchise’s lone World Series appearance in 2005. They were the constants among the Killer B’s, the driving forces behind a team that made the postseason six times in a span of nine seasons.
Bagwell was worth to the Astros a franchise-best 79.6 wins over his 15 seasons, according to the wins above replacement metric (WAR). He is responsible for four of the nine most productive individual seasons in the franchise’s 55 years of existence. And for nine seasons, his home park was the cavernous Astrodome, a pitcher’s paradise.
“In my mind, it was never a matter of if. It was just a matter of when,” former Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said. “He’s a Hall of Famer in every sense of the word. Like Biggio, he meant so much to this franchise.” Steal of a deal
Born in Boston but raised in Connecticut, Bagwell went undrafted out of high school before starring at the University of Hartford. The Boston Red Sox — his favorite childhood team — selected him in the fourth round of the 1989 draft.
At the time, Bagwell played third base, a position at which he was blocked in the Red Sox organization by Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. Boston infamously parted with him to acquire relief pitcher Larry Andersen from the Astros for the stretch run, an Aug. 30, 1990, trade now considered among the most lopsided in baseball history.
Ken Caminiti’s presence at third base for the Astros ensured a move across the diamond for Bagwell come the next spring. The rookie broke with the team out of spring training, making his major league debut on opening day of the 1991 season despite never having played in Class AAA. First base stuck for the next 15 years.
Bagwell’s MVP award for the strike-shortened 1994 season remains the franchise’s only such recognition in its 55 seasons. He batted .368 with 39 home runs, 116 RBIs and a 1.201 on-base plus slugging percentage in 400 at-bats spanning 110 games.
His season ended two days before the rest of the major leagues when a pitch from San Diego’s Andy Benes broke his left hand. Short season and all, Bagwell still won the award unanimously.
“You play the game 20 years, you see a lot on a baseball field, and the 1994 season for Jeff Bagwell was just absolutely crazy,” Biggio said. “I had a great seat for that season. There was really nothing that he couldn’t do that year.”
Bagwell was an aboveaverage defender, and his contributions on the basepaths are perhaps overlooked. He stole 202 bases in his career, making him the only first baseman in history with at least 400 home runs and 200 steals. He is the only player ever at his position with a 30-homer, 30-steal season, and he accomplished the feat twice, in 1997 and 1999.
An arthritic right shoulder plagued Bagwell his final few seasons and led to the end of his playing days in spring training of 2006. He officially announced his retirement that December. The Astros retired his No. 5 in August 2007.
The injury hindered Bagwell’s ability to reach major statistical milestones like 2,500 hits and 500 home runs. In 2011, his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, he appeared on 41.7 percent of ballots. His percentage hovered between 54.3 and 59.6 from 2012 to 2015 before jumping to 71.6 last year. Call finally comes
It’s no coincidence Bagwell’s election came a year after that of catcher Mike Piazza. Both players faced similar obstacles. As sluggers who played in the steroid era, both have been subject to suspicion among writers despite never failing a drug test and not being named in the Mitchell Report. Both also admitted to using androstenedione when it was legal in MLB.
Some writers continued to abstain from voting for Bagwell because of performance-enhancing drug suspicion, but those in his corner made for a comfortable margin for election this year.
A phone number with a New York area code flashed on Bagwell’s cell phone at about 4:10 p.m. Wednesday. After celebrating with his family and once he had signed his first autographs as a Hall of Famer, he hopped in a car destined for the airport. Sporting a black T-shirt, blue jeans and a black cap and flanked by his wife, Rachel, and his longtime agent, Barry Axelrod, he made his way through the terminal shortly after 6 p.m.
“Way to go, Bagwell,” a United Airlines attendant said as she pushed a cart by the new Hall of Famer. “Way to go.”