Jeff Bagwell

With Hall Of Fame Election, Deep Wounds Closing For Jeff Bagwell

... with a.422 OBP for Boston's Double-A affiliate in New Britain, Connecticut. He was born in Boston and raised in Middletown, Connecticut, and the entire Bagwell clan embraced the idea of him playing a corner infield spot for the Sox one day. When Houston general manager Bill Wood swung a deal to acquire Bagwell from Boston for Larry Andersen in August 1990, Bagwell and his then-81-year-old grandmother, Alice Hare, were both knocked off-kilter emotionally. "I was one of the saddest guys you'll ever see," Bagwell said in a 1993 interview with Sports Illustrated's Leigh Montville. Lou Gorman, then Boston's general manager, punted on long-term thinking for pennant race expediency. The Red Sox were pushing for a postseason berth, and Gorman needed to fortify a bullpen that was in desperate need of help when closer Jeff Reardon went down with a back injury. Statistical guru Bill James quickly observed that the trade might come back to haunt Gorman and the Red Sox in an Ernie Broglio-for-Lou Brock kind of way. "You never know how good a young player will be," James wrote at the time, "but, with some luck, Lou Gorman will hear ...

Jose Canseco Rips Hall Of Fame Voters In Twitter Rant

... said that Jeff Bagwell never use steroids you have got to be kidding me right,” Canseco tweeted. Why I’m not joining other Hall voters who put PED kings on ballot. He adds that the voters should approach him so he can educate them on the PED era and later says that only the players from that era should vote on the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame voters have no idea what they're talking about they need me on the panel to explain the ped era. What are they afraid of. — Jose Canseco (@Jose Canseco) January 18, 2017. If moike Piazza who used steroids is in the Hall of Fame Pudge Rodriguez definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame much better catcher. — Jose Canseco (@Jose Canseco) January 18, 2017. I could easily clean up the Hall of Fame voting system if they would just contact me what are they afraid of the truth. — Jose Canseco (@Jose Canseco) January 18, 2017. Why don't these Hall of Fame voters get a panel of players that played in the PE Tiara and have them fix the problem. — Jose Canseco ...

Jeff Bagwell Topps Baseball Cards

... in 2017. Take a look at his Topps baseball cards from each season to go along with his yearly statistics. Jeff Bagwell 1991 Topps rookie card. (Credit: The Topps Company). Jeff Bagwell made his MLB debut in 1991 and would go on to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. He batted.294 with 15 home runs, 82 RBIs and a.387 OBP. Jeff Bagwell 1992 Topps card. (Credit: The Topps Company). In 1992, Bagwell was a regular for the Astros, playing in all 162 games. He batted.273 with a.368 OBP, 18 home runs and 96 RBIs. Jeff Bagwell 1993 Topps card. Bagwell batted.320 with a.388 OBP, 20 home runs and 88 RBIs in his third season in the bigs. Jeff Bagwell 1994 Topps card. (Credit: The Topps Company). In 1994, Bagwell won the NL Most Valuable Player Award after batting.368 with a.451 OBP, 39 home runs and driving in 116 runs. He also made the NL All-Star team, won Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger awards at first base. Jeff Bagwell 1995 Topps card. (Credit: The Topps Company). ...

Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez

... Series titles in 2004 and '07, the first for the franchise since 1918, and hit.312 with 555 home runs and 1,831 RBIs in 19 big league seasons. "Barry Bonds was the best player I played against in my entire life," Bagwell said. Several notable players will join them in the competition for votes in upcoming years: Chipper Jones and Jim Thome in 2018, Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay in 2019, and Derek Jeter in 2020. Twelve players have been elected by the BBWAA in the past four years, the most over a span of that length since the first four ballots from 1936-39. Lee Smith, who had 478 saves, got 34 percent in his final time on the ballot. Jorge Posada, Tim Wakefield and Magglio Ordonez were among the players who got under 5 percent and fell off future ballots. Pete Rose, the career hits leader who has never ...

Jeff Bagwell 'anxious' For Upcoming Hall Of Fame Announcement

... kind of looking. I'm excited about it.". Speaking Wednesday night before an appearance on the Astros' offseason radio show, Astroline, at Pluckers Wing Bar (1400 Shepherd Dr.), Bagwell said he has paid attention to the ballots that have been made public "a little bit lately" but more so learns about them second hand. This is Bagwell's seventh year of Hall of Fame eligibility, the former slugger's candidacy having previously suffered in part because of performance-enhancing drug suspicion by writers. Last year, Bagwell finished only 15 votes shy of joining a class that featured Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza. This year's class has the chance to be larger, with Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez and Vlad Guerrero each as of Wednesday having appeared on at least 75 percent of the ballots made public so far. "I've got a lot of people that are keeping track for me, sending me texts and stuff like that," said Bagwell, sporting a black T shirt and a black Texans cap. "That's a small percentage of the amount of votes. They ...

Projecting The 2017 Hall Of Fame Vote

... that level has been elected eventually, either by the writers or a small committee, save for Gil Hodges, Jack Morris and current candidates Smith, Bagwell, Raines, Hoffman and Schilling—a group whose numbers appear poised to dwindle. Bonds and Clemens, each in their fifth year of eligibility, topped out at 45.2% and 44.3% last year, respectively, but they're surging thanks in large part to Bud Selig's recent election and/or a general softening of attitudes when it comes to PED-related candidates, as discussed previously. Martinez and Mussina, the pair that gained the most ground last year, continue to make significant strides toward election. Martinez, now in his eighth year, gained 16.4% from 2015 to '16 to reach 43.4% and is setting himself up for a Raines-like ascension over the final two years of his candidacy; his net gain of 30 votes from returning voters thus far is the most of any candidate. Mussina, now in his fourth year, gained 18.4%—the most of anyone on the ballot—to reach 43.0% and could see another double-digit gain this time. JAWS and the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot: ...

It's Time For Baseball Writers To Make Jeff Bagwell A Hall Of Famer

... locker, he learned to slide head first into second so that he wouldn’t break the vial that he had in his back pocket. For my final request, I implore you to vote for Mike Mussina. Now, I’ve had many discussions with former Houston Chronicle reporter Jose de Jesus Ortiz hoping to advance my Mussina campaign , but I should probably expand this to everybody. Mussina pitched in the majors for 18 seasons, and he spent all of those seasons with the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees, pitching in the home-run-friendly ballparks in those cities while playing in the American League East, home to home-run-heavy hitting squads in Boston and Toronto, and all of this during the height of baseball’s PED era. Yet Mussina finished with a 270-153 record and a 3.68 ERA. He finished with 2,813 career strikeouts. His career WAR is 82.7, and his 270 career wins ranks as 33 rd all-time, ahead of Hall of Famers Jim Palmer, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz. Mussina’s final year saw him go 20-9 with a 3.37 ERA in 200.1 innings with 150 strikeouts. If he had desired to pitch another year, he would have undoubtedly hit the 3,000-strikeout mark, and if he had hung on several ...

Jeff Bagwell's Case For Hall Of Fame Election

... the Hall of Fame after an outstanding 15-year career. Most similar player in the Hall: Frank Thomas. The connections are numerous between Bagwell and Thomas. Each of them captured league MVP awards in 1994 and they both had the rare ability to match breathtaking power with a steady.300 average at the plate. Though Thomas had become primarily a designated hitter by the end of the decade, both he and Bagwell were the preeminent first basemen of the 1990 s. Most similar player not in the Hall: Carlos Delgado. Bagwell undoubtedly enjoyed a better prime, with a peak WAR total that is nearly 50 percent higher than Delgado's. Bagwell's injuries toward the end of his career, however, left him with similar totals to Delgado, who surprisingly garnered just 3.8 percent of the Hall of Fame vote in 2015, his lone year on the ballot. Matt Kelly is a reporter for __link__ based in New York. Follow him on Twitter at @mattkelly MLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League ...