Jeff Bagwell
Jeff Bagwell
Jeffrey Robert Bagwellis an American former professional baseball first baseman and coach who spent his entire fifteen-year Major League Baseballplaying career with the Houston Astros. Originally, the Boston Red Sox selected him from the University of Hartford as a third baseman in the fourth round of the 1989 amateur draft. The Red Sox traded Bagwell to the Astros in 1990; the next season he made his MLB debut and was named the National LeagueRookie of the Year. The NL Most...
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth27 May 1968
CityBoston, MA
The first thing I thought about when the ball went into the air was Craig.
What led me to this (decision) was the tremendous amount of pain that I just couldn't deal with anymore. I played a couple of days in a row. I came out that first game. Then I played a couple days and I got through it. And I was like, 'All right, let's see what's happening here.' I had to come out of the game in Detroit.
This was what we wanted to do, ... We spent a lot of time in this city and this organization trying to get to this particular point.
You have to be a little nervous in that situation. It was a big moment, and it's a win we needed.
Towards the end of my career, I didn't want an opportunity like this to go by.
Eventually, he and I are going to have to sit down and talk. When that is, we'll figure it out at some point.
Easier said than done, ... It's not like the guy is throwing soft toss to me. It's hard in those situations. I loved the opportunity, and I wish I had the at-bat over again. That's just not the way it is.
We win that game, it changes the whole series. But the bottom line is, we didn't, and we've got to deal with that.
I don't know exactly why that is. I was dying in the St. Louis series, I was dying in the Atlanta series. Of course, I haven't been playing, so I'm more of a fan than anything else,
Mentally and physically, this has been the most difficult, most exhausting, most frustrating season I've ever had. Being an Astro my whole career, I felt the same way about this team that a lot of people did, that this was the year we'd get through the playoffs and into a World Series. And I felt that I was letting the team and the city down.
But the great fans are going to be next door, so we'll just have another nice, new park with the same fans. The best of both worlds.
Oh, yeah, he made those great plays. What would have been if those balls got through?
My at-bats were fine. I'm not so concerned with results with my hitting. I'm just concerned with ... does it affect my hitting when I go out there and throw, and so far it does not.
Maybe (Billy) Wagner, ... I can't think of anybody else.