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
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.
Today didn't go that well. My arm was bothering me from when I woke up, so I'm hoping it's just that I slept on it wrong. I tried to get loose and see if felt any better, but it didn't, so I just didn't want to take my chances. Playing catch is no fun, but that's secondary right now. That'll come, hopefully, in another couple of weeks.
I swung at a couple of high fastballs, but I'm getting the bat head there. I just need to get the ball down a little bit. He's a guy that just comes in and throws hard. Whether you have 35 or 40 postseason at-bats, a guy throwing 100 miles per hour, it's not that easy.
I swung at a couple of high fastballs, but I'm getting the bat head there, ... I just need to get the ball down a little bit. He's a guy that just comes in and throws hard. Whether you have 35 or 40 postseason at-bats, a guy throwing 100 miles per hour, it's not that easy.
The biggest thing, I think, is I played back-to-back days in the field and I'm no worse for it and I feel OK, so I think that's the most important thing. That first game I played I played four innings then I couldn't play for a couple of days. Now, I've played four innings back to back so that's good.
The last one cut. I felt all right the whole at-bat, the whole night, but I swung at a couple of high fastballs. I didn't do a good job of getting the ball down. He's a guy who just comes in and throws hard stuff. With a guy like that, you've got to get it going, because decisions have to be made fast or it's sayonara.
The last one cut, ... I felt all right the whole at-bat, the whole night, but I swung at a couple of high fastballs. I didn't do a good job of getting the ball down. He's a guy who just comes in and throws hard stuff. With a guy like that, you've got to get it going, because decisions have to be made fast or it's sayonara.
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,