I skipped three classes to go to the Astros' home opener in 1994. I managed to get to every home opener from 1987-1999. It was Astros-Expos, and Mouton had a double in the first, a single and a steal in the third, and another double in the ninth.
I was there too. think Bagwell hit the hardest home run I've ever seen in person during that game. Not the farthest because it was a line drive all the way. It landed in the gray seats (the loge?). The way I remember it the ball was still rising when it hit the stands. Realistically I don't think that would be possible. But he smoked it.
Now Mitch Williams, that's one I would like to forget. He joked about being called The Wild Thing. It was never funny.
So like most of you, I unloaded a small fortune on WS merch last fall, including a low profile hat with the WS Champs patch on the side. I'm not sure what New Era did, but all of my other low profile fitted hats are 7-1/2, just like this one, and I can't get close to getting this one on my head.
Well, with the holidays and everything, I put it back in the box and promptly forgot about returning it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I tried to return it, but since I bought it from MLB Shop, the return window is only 90 days, not 365 days like from Fanatics, despite Fanatics running MLB Shop (don't get me started).
So, my error can be someone else's gain. I bought the hat for $43.99. I'll gladly sell it for $30 to someone on here. I'm guessing the true size is closer to 7-1/4 or possibly even 7-1/8.
Here's the link to the hat, still for sale on Fanatics: Fanatics Link If anyone is interested, let me know. I'll be at Opening Day or could meet up around town (I'm on the west side).
Still got 6 grass section tickets to Astros vs Space Cowboys on Monday if you know anyone. I'll probably be looking for people to just give them to since I can't find anyone.
In his final tuneup for opening day, Framber Valdez threw 73 pitches across 5.2 innings of two-run ball against the Marlins tonight in Jupiter. He generated 14 (!) groundball outs and touched 96.2 mph with his sinker.
Hardest hit ball I've ever witnessed was hit by Bob Watson off David Clyde in the dome. Low turnout, so we moved behind home plate. Watson crushed a low hooking, knuckling line drive that went between SS Toby Harrah's legs on the fly and ended up as a double is the gap. Harrah's face lost all color. Probably had to change pants. Late exhibition game right before the opener, circa '73 or '74.
Framber Valdez on working w/Korey Lee: "I've started to get comfortable throwing to him. He calls the pitches I want to throw. I feel very good about that. If the opportunity arises during the season, he's a guy I'd feel comfortable throwing to. He's been doing a really good job"
Hardest hit ball I've ever witnessed was hit by Bob Watson off David Clyde in the dome. Low turnout, so we moved behind home plate. Watson crushed a low hooking, knuckling line drive that went between SS Toby Harrah's legs on the fly and ended up as a double is the gap. Harrah's face lost all color. Probably had to change pants. Late exhibition game right before the opener, circa '73 or '74.
Pinder > Dubon, btw
Wow, that had to be a viscous line drive. I still feel bad for David Clyde, I don't know what else the Rangers could have done to scuttle any chance he had of a good career.
FIVE DAYS until Opening Day brings us to #5 on the jersey countdown, and it's obvious where we're going, but a bit odd as well. Only 3 men have worn #5 for the Astros, and before 1991, it was worn for just twice, for one year each.
Hal King wore #5 in 1967 in 15 games for the Astros. Steve Henderson, the pride of Yates High school wore it in 1988 for 42 games at the end of his career. Fun fact, he's the only graduate of Yates to ever make the Majors. Conversely, that schools has 16 alum play in the NFL and 4 in the NBA.
So, fast-forward to the late summer of 1990. The Boston Red Sox were in the thick of the race in the AL East. These aren't your modern-day Sox, these were the Sox who hadn't won a World Series in decades. They had just missed vs. the Mets in 1986 and been swept in the ALCS in 1988. They were still pretty good in 1989, but getting older. Dwight Evans was 38, Boggs was 32, and their bullpen was getting up there. But they had Roger Clemens in the prime of his career (21-6, 1.93 ERA) and young bats in MIke Greenwell and Ellis Burks. By the end of August, they were on a 10-game win streak that put them up 6.5 games over the Blue Jays. No wild card back then, so they started prepping for how they would beat the powerhouse A's in the playoffs. That mean more bullpen arms and they wanted Larry Andersen from the Astros. He had been a workhorse warrior for Houston, going 22-16 with 20 saves and 104 games finished plus a 2.57 ERA in five years. He had playoff experience with the Astros in the NLCS and with the '83 Phillies in the World Series. The Astros were suffering a bad season, under .500 wire to wire, and were looking to sell off pieces to start a rebuilding process.
When the Red Sox came calling, Astro scout Stan Benjamin, who worked in New England, told them to ask for Bagwell. The upper management disagreed. Bagwell had hit over .300 in his 1-1/2 years int he minors, but only managed 4 home runs in 205 career games. Moving to the cavernous Astrodome wouldn't do him any favors, plus the Astros already had a young third baseman. Ken Caminiti wasn't all that great in 1990 but he was immensely popular and electrifying on defense. But Benjamin told the team that Bagwell's lack of power was due to the monster dimensions of the Red Sox park in New Britain - so the deal was done. The Astros traded away fan favorite Bill Doran to the Reds on the same day, largely overshadowing the Andersen for Bagwell deal. For a lifelong fan of the Red Sox like Bagwell, who had dreamed of playing at Fenway Park like his idol Carl Yazstremski, it was somewhere between an opportunity and a disappointment.
The Astros purged their roster in the 1990 off-season and went to spring training without a first baseman, with Glenn Davis sent to the Orioles. Bagwell got the invite to spring training in 1991, fully expecting to wind up at AAA Tucson. Instead, the Astros asked him about trying his hand at first base, where he had never played. For the length of spring training, he played first in the Astros games and minor league games and earned the start on Opening Day, 1991. His first hit came in the second game of the year, and he made good on that promise of more power as well, with his first career home run being a game-winner in the top of the ninth of a 3-1 win over Atlanta on the road on April 15. He hit another two-run bomb the next day. On May 6, he became only the ninth player to hit an upper-deck homer at Three River Stadium, an estimated 456 feet. A crowd of what looks like about 350 people in Pittsburgh gave him a standing ovation. He was hitting .256 at the end of May , but took off the rest of the year, finishing the year with a .294 average, 15 home runs, and 82 RBI. He was a near-unanimous choice for NL ROY - some dummy voted for Orlando Merced, and suddenly the Astros had a bright future at first base.
In 1992, his average was down (.273) but his numers were up everywhere else. He played in all 162 games, hit 18 HR, drove in 96, walked 84 times and struck out less than 100. He finished in the top 20 for MVP. In 1993, he topped .300 for the first time at .320, slugged .516, hit 20 HR, drove in 88, and swatted 37 doubles. All that despite missing the last 20 games of the year when he was hit in the hand by a pitch, breaking his forth metacarpal bone.
Blocking this part off as it's non stop 1994 talk ______________________________________________
In 1994, Bagwell was the most unstoppable offensive weapon this town has ever seen, and the most incredible force in the National League. The strike didn't affect Bagwell's final numbers, as he was again hit in the hand and broke the same bone on August 11, 1994. Bagwell's line from 1994:
So, in 110 games he broke the Astro record for homers in a season (Glenn Davis, 34) and RBI (Bob Watson, 110), along with all three of the averages. His .750 slugging percentage is still the 11th-highest in MLB history, and 6th highest in NL history. At the time, it was the second-highest NL slugging percentage ever, trailing only ROgers Horsnby's .756 set in 1925.
Here's the list of MLB players to have a 1.2000 OPS season: Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig, Mark McGwire, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell. Nine guys, ever.
Bagwell became the first player to hit 35+ home runs and have an average of .365+ since Stan Musial hit 39 HR and hit .376 in 1948.
He was the unanimous MVP In 1994. Think about that when you consider that Matt Williams had 43 HR at the time of the strike and was on pace to break Maris's record, and that Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 and had a .454 OBP.
Bagwell hit .457 against left-handers in 1994. 48-for-105 with 18 home runs. His slugging percentage against lefties was 1.095 and his OPS was 1.639.
In the second "half" of the season, which was only 26 games, he hit .432 with a .530 BP, a .916 SLG, and an OPS of 1.446. He only had 12 home runs through 51 games, then hit 13 in June and 11 in July.
Here he is in heart-warming memory hitting 3 home runs, 2 in the same inning, during a 16-4 smashing of the Dodgers in June 1994. He was 4 for 5 with 6 RBI in that game.
Bags signed a four-year extension after the 94 season worth $27.5 million. He slumped to start the 95 shortened season, then turned it up to hit .290 with 21 HR and 87 RBI before ... you guessed it! He broke his hand again! This time it was in July and he returned in September with a headily padded glove, but missed 30 games.
In 1996, Bagwell and Biggio began forging the Astros with their own identity, including a sign at the front of the Astros gym that read "Bagwell's Gym. Work Hard. Play Hard. Or Leave." That year, he joined Willie Stargell as the only player to hit multiple home runs into the upper deck of Three Rivers, this one going 459 feet. After the string of injuries, Bagwell played all 162 games in 1996, 1997, and 1999. In 1996, he led the NL in doubles with 45 ,hit 31 home runs, drove in 120 runs, and batted .315.
The Astros won the NL Central in 1997 and he was fantastic, 109 runs, 40 doubles, 43 HR, 135 RBi, 31 steals, and a .286 average. Here are the list of names of first basemen in the 30-30 club: Jeff Bagwell 1997 and Jeff Bagwell 1999. That's EVER.
Between 1996 and 2003, Bagwell averaged 159 games played, 120 runs scored, 37 doubles, 38 HR, and 119 RBI per season. AVERAGED THAT.
He led the league in runs scored with 143 in 1999 and 152 in 2000. He hit 42 HR in 1999 and 47 in 2000. He led the NL in walks with 149 in 1999. He had an OPS over 1.000 in 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000. He hit for the cycle in 2001.
The hardware mounted up. Four All-Star games, 1 Gold Glove, 3 Silver Sluggers.
When interleague play started, he finally got the chance to play at Fenway Park, and hit a home run over the Green Monster in June 2003.
The playoffs were the sore spot early on. .083, .143, .154 in 1997-1999. He hit .429 vs the Braves in 2001, but that was just 3 singles in 7 at-bats, and they walked him 4 times.
It took him until the 2004 NLDS to hit his first post-season homer. He hit .318 in that series as the team broke its post-season curse.
In 2005, Bagwell's chronic arthritis in his shoulder flared up and caused him to miss 123 games. He could no longer field and he hit just .250 with 3 homers in 100 at bats. At age 37 he batted 3 times in the NLDS and NLCS as a pinch-hitter, then started for the team as its DH in the first 2 games of the World Series. Even at the time, a lot of people wondered if manager Phil Garner was playing too much on sentimentality to get Bagwell in the World Series. He was 1 for 8 in the 4 games and scored a run.
Things got awkward in 2006 when a surgeon did an exam of Bagwell and ruled him "completely disabled" in regards to playing baseball. The Astros were trying to collect on an insurance policy to reclaim $15 million of his $17 million salary, and Bagwell was refusing to retire, playing several spring training games. The insurance company rejected the claim, citing Bagwell playing in the 2005 WS and the Astros ended up paying him his entire 2006 salary despite him not playing a single game.
He retired and remains the franchise' all-time leader in home runs (449), RBI (1,529), walks (1,401), sacrifice flies (102), and intentional walks (155). He also has the single-season records for batting average (.368), on-based percentage (.454), slugging percentage (.750), OPS (1.201), games played (one of many to play 162), runs scored (152), total bases (363), home runs (47), and walks (149).
He did not appear at Minute Maid Park again until June 28, 2007, when he exploded out of the Astros' dugout to congratulate Craig Biggio on his 3000th hit. #5 was retired two months later. While Biggio and Brad Ausmus were on the field to speak, Bagwell's jaw literally dropped when the video board at Minute Maid flashed to life and his childhood hero Carl Yazstremski appeared, saying, "Congratulations, Jeff, on your number being retired. I begged the Red Sox not to trade you when you were in the minors with us. Boston's loss was Houston's gain. See you in Cooperstown."
On August 18, 2017, Jeff Bagwell was elected to the Hall of Fame with 86.2% of the vote.
While Biggio and Brad Ausmus were on the field to speak, Bagwell's jaw literally dropped when the video board at Minute Maid flashed to life and his childhood hero Carl Yazstremski appeared, saying, "Congratulations, Jeff, on your number being retired. I begged the Red Sox not to trade you when you were in the minors with us.
I had never read this, that's off the chart cool.
Quote:
In 1996, Bagwell and Biggio began forging the Astros with their own identity, including a sign at the front of the Astros gym that read "Bagwell's Gym. Work Hard. Play Hard. Or Leave."
I read this with kind of mixed feelings. I do believe Bagwell and Biggio were among the hardest working players ever. I don't think I've ever seen a baseball player play with more intensity on every pitch, in the field or in the batters box, than Bagwell. I watched a ton of his games and don't think I can remember him ever making a mental error. It worked for him, at least in the regular season.
But I've wondered what he must have thought about Altuve watching him grow up, laughing, dancing, joking with players on the other team. In the back of his mind do you think there's ever been a little voice saying "I wish I could have been a little more like that?".
Thanks for this, Porkchop. I teared up at the end. Like many on here, Bags and Bidge were childhood heroes of mine. I remember being absolutely irate in 93 and 94 when Greg Jefferies was voted ASG starter at 1B because Cardinals fans voted so heavily. #5 and #7 are inseparable in my memories, and I consider it such a privilege to have been able to grow up watching them. You write ups have been fantastic opportunities to remember those days.
The writeups of Biggio and Bagwell have helped me remember how amazing they were. I'm a bit older than a lot of you who call them your boyhood heroes, and as I got into my 30s at the end of their careers, I definitely had my memories tainted with some cynicsm for their frequent playoff shortcomings and the awkward end of Bagwell's career. It's been great revisiting just how unstoppable they both were in their primes. I know the era was different but the year Yordan had last year was the year Bagwell had like 6 different times.
I'm just going to say it. I believe many put Altuve at the top of Astros but I believe that is just a case of proximity bias with him still playing and many of us being older and knowing what's going on more.
These write ups in my opinion prove why Jose is probably still at least 2 or 3. And I believe 2 is the highest he will get.
I had intended to write this after Biggio but wanted to wait for todays.
For me, you could make an argument for Biggio, Bagewell and Altuve for best Astro of all time. It's not just the numbers they put up, but the way they go about their business. They all have that extreme hustle and focus on the team first. Loved seeing Baggy go first to third or steal a base due a great read/jump. Biggio running out a pop up, getting a double or getting dirty diving for a ball. Altuve legging out an infield hit or scoring with a slide and a tap on home plate with his hand. Two had to put in work to change positions while another overcomes what people perceive to be drawbacks to height. I see them all as solid defenders at their positions but also brought the offense. Lucky to have the opportunity to root for them.
