An elite career capped
Savor this year’s Cooperstown ceremony, Houston. It will be some time before the Astros get their next electee
The plaque that lasts forever. A stage loaded with legends. Thousands making a pilgrimage in late July and visiting small-town Cooperstown, N.Y., just to get an up-close glimpse at an unthinkable dream that finally came true.
Cherish this weekend and hold the memories for as long as you can. Because this could be the last time for a long time that we’ll see a true Astro become a baseball immortal.
Jeff Bagwell’s joining Craig Biggio in the Hall of Fame is special enough. The two biggest stars of the franchise’s greatest era. Lifetime Astros with 35 combined years devoted to Houston’s baseball club.
But then consider the Astro who’ll next follow Bagwell into the Hall. And you’ll understand just how special Sunday in Cooperstown will be.
Jose Altuve is destroying the ball in July, hitting .494 for the month, which gives him a major league-best .365 average for the season. He’s won two batting titles since 2014, already owns three Silver Slugger awards at the age of 27, and is a five time All-Star and the biggest current face of the Astros. Altuve is 1,813 hits shy of 3,000. Dallas Keuchel (when healthy) is the undisputed ace of the 2017 Astros and won the American League Cy Young Award in ’15.
Keuchel is already 29 and still needs 41 wins before he even reaches 100.
Carlos Correa? At 22, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2012 MLB draft is already one of the brightest young faces of the modern game and rivals Altuve as the most popular player on the AL’s best team. But Correa needs 438 home runs to reach 500 and has played in only 336 games.
In this era of instant reactions to daily overreactions, it’s easy to forget just how special the Hall is. Bagwell’s long-awaited induction reminds us that Cooperstown is reserved for the greatest of greats.
It is easier to gain entry now. Twelve players have passed the threshold since 2014. Ken Griffey Jr. earned a record 99.3 percent of the vote his first time on the ballot in 2016, outpolling everyone from Hank Aaron (97.8) and Ty Cobb (98.2) to Babe Ruth (95.1) and Willie Mays (94.7).
The steroid era watered down onceholy stats. Sabermetrics and an obsession with inside numbers have greatly improved our view of the game but also allowed players I never would have voted for (Tim Raines, Bert Blyleven) to earn the most famous plaque in sports.
The Hall is still heaven compared to everything else. And the fact Biggio and Bagwell will soon become the only two Cooperstown honorees wearing Astros caps says it all.
66 seasons, 2 honorees
The local nine have been playing ball since 1962, yet the Astros have minimal representation. Joe Morgan spent 10 years in Houston but rightfully went in as a Red. Nolan Ryan played for the Astros longer (nine years) than he did with any of his other hardball allegiances but wears a Rangers cap on his plaque. Several special names (Randy Johnson, Don Sutton, Robin Roberts, Eddie Mathews, Nellie Fox) barely spent any time in Houston compared to the cities they made their names in.
So which Astro will be next? And how long is it going to take before another pro baseball player primarily linked to Houston follows Bagwell into the Hall?
I asked readers that question Monday. I received more Lance Berkman mentions on Twitter than I expected.
Like Bagwell, Berkman spent 15 years in the majors, and the Texas native was very good for 12 of them. He made six AllStar teams and finished in the top seven in National League MVP voting six times, ascending at the same time Biggio and Bagwell were beginning to decline. But Berkman finished with only 366 home runs and 1,905 hits, and those numbers simply aren’t Hall worthy.
The Rocket? Maybe Roger Clemens makes it before his ballot eligibility expires. He jumped to 54.1 percent of the required 75 percent vote in 2017, and one of the greatest pitchers of all time unquestionably has Cooperstown credentials — if you believe he was always clean. Even then, Clemens spent only three seasons in Houston late in his 24-year career. If the Rocket should join Biggio and Bagwell in the Hall, he won’t be wearing an Astros cap.
The smartest response was saved for a starter on the 2017 Astros.
I wouldn’t have said Carlos Beltran was going to end up in the Hall of Fame at the beginning of this decade, and age may finally be kicking in for the 40-yearold in 2017. But the switch-hitting Puerto Rico native goes into the weekend with 433 career home runs and 2,692 hits. And if the 20-year pro can add a couple more strong seasons (and teams) to his résumé, I can see Beltran entering the Hall toward the end of his eligibility.
Which cap would the journeyman Beltran wear? Royals? Mets? It also won’t be the Astros. He’s spent only 174 games with the local club and has racked up hits for six other teams.
A distant hope
Which brings me back to Altuve. If the Astro who can hit everything and anything keeps this up — a huge if — Altuve could be staring at 3,000 hits sometime around 2027. To reach 20 playing years like Biggio and Beltran, he’d have to play until 2030 at age 40. And let’s just pretend he immediately retires then and becomes a first-ballot Hall of Famer …
The next true Astro could follow Biggio and Bagwell into Cooperstown — in 2035. See you in 18 (or so) years.
Cherish the heck out of this historic weekend and Bagwell wearing an Astros cap on his plaque in the Hall.