The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bagwell on induction: ‘It’s surreal’
Former Xavier standout joins baseball’s immortals today
COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK » It took Jeff Bagwell seven years to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, so there are certainly people who questioned whether he’s worthy.
One of those people, it seems, is Jeff Bagwell.
During a private tour of the Hall with his wife, Rachel, on Friday, Bagwell noticed an exhibit dedicated to Hank Aaron.
“You take a little peek at what Mr. Aaron did in his career,” Bagwell said, “then look at your numbers, you kinda go, ‘What am I doing here?’”
Indeed, Bagwell, who has spent some time with current Hall of Fame members over the past couple of days, is seemingly in awe of the company he’ll soon be keeping.
“It’s surreal,” he said on Saturday. “I see George Brett, I’m like, ‘Really, I’m in the same place George is?’ I can’t compare myself to George Brett in my mind. Or Carl Yastrzemski — all the guys I see here.”
And yet that’s exactly where Bagwell’s plaque will forever reside, following a ceremony that will also see Pudge Rodriguez and Tim Raines, along with former MLB commissioner Bud Selig and executive John Schuerholz, inducted.
Jeff Bagwell, the kid from Killingworth, Xavier High and the University of Hartford, will be a baseball immortal.
“It kinda makes me chuckle a little bit,” he said. “‘Immortal.’ I guess, if I make it to Monday morning when they put my
plaque up, it’ll be there forever. That’s pretty cool. It’s something I never set out to do. It’s just kinda weird, man. I don’t know how to say it any different. It’s a crazy feeling.”
With 449 career homers, 202 stolen bases, an MVP and a Rookie of the Year award on the mantelpiece, Bagwell is certainly a worthy inductee. He’s one of only 11 players in MLB history with at least 440 homers and 200 steals. He’s one of just 50 of the Hall’s 220 former players to play his entire career with one team.
For all of his 15 bigleague seasons with Houston, Bagwell’s teammate was Craig Biggio, who was inducted two years earlier. Among Hall of Famers, Bagwell and Biggio are only the fourth pair of teammates to play at least 15 years together. The others: Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski (17 seasons, Pirates), Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott (16 seasons, Giants) and Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle (15 seasons, Yankees).
As with Biggio’s 2015 induction, the streets of Cooperstown were lined with orange on Saturday as Astros fans made the long trip to Cooperstown in droves.
“I think this is a culmination of our era,” Bagwell said. “For Craig and I to be in the Hall of Fame together, it means a lot to the city. It means a lot to Craig and I, as well. I couldn’t be more happy and proud of the fans of Houston, the love they’ve shown me and my family. This is a neat thing. Hopefully, it brings them some joy. It brings me a ton.”
Bagwell was born in Boston, but his family moved to Killingworth when Jeff was 1 ½ after his father, Robert, took a job with IBM. Robert Bagwell instilled in Jeff a love for the Red Sox; Jeff’s favorite player growing up was Yastrzemski.
His parents, wife, daughters, brothers and other family members will all be at Sunday’s ceremony. So will many of his former teammates from Xavier.
“That’s when I was a better soccer player than a baseball player,” he recalled. “I’m so happy they’re gonna be here. Xavier High School is such a big part of my life. Our soccer team was a great team, we had a lot of fun, had some great players. That’s the fun thing. These people have been in my life for a long, long time, and they’re still here, so it means a lot.”
A bus trip from the University of Hartford campus will bring many other old friends and teammates from college. Bagwell, who noted he doesn’t enjoy talking about himself, said he’s not too nervous about his speech.
“I can talk about baseball and I can talk about my friends,” he said. “I speak from my heart about that.”
And when it’s all done, Bagwell will add “HOF” after his name every time he signs an autograph. He’ll be a Hall of Famer. An immortal, if you will.
“It’s kinda weird. I’ve done some things in my career to get some awards, but there is no higher award individually that you can get than this. That’s the kind of thing that takes me back a little bit.”
His plaque will be just a few over from Biggio’s, and just around the corner from the 1936 “First Class” of Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Babe Ruth.
Bagwell just shakes his head in amazement once again.
“It’s a great club to be in.”