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
It was a little sore to start with, but the more I went, the better it felt.
I think the teams are to blame. They start out by giving guys out of high school millions of dollars and contracts that guarantee they'll be in the big leagues by a certain time. Then they coddle them all the way through the system. They get used to having things given to them rather than having earned them.
I think my swing is there. I hold on with two hands. I'm not having to let go because I'm restricted from getting out there. My hitting will come. The major focus of this black cloud that's sitting over this locker is that throwing arm. If it starts hurting bad enough where it's affecting my swing, we're going to have another talk.
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.
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.
The team can't wait on me. They need to know now. I think I'll honestly know if I can or can't.
Towards the end of my career, I didn't want an opportunity like this to go by.
There's no other situation this would be OK. A normal guy, that wasn't going to play. It fit for our situation at the time. It's not something I would advocate. But Roger Clemens is a gift from the baseball gods. Anything he does is a gift. ... Craig (Biggio) and I have never had a ring. Our best opportunity to get one was to have Roger around. He tends to his obligations, his kids. And it's not like the man comes in here and pitches five innings and gives up six every day.
There's nothing really (doctors) can tell me. There are educated guesses of what's going on. I just need to rest a little bit.
There's nothing more we would like, ... than to get this city to the World Series.
That was probably the calmest I was the whole postseason.
I wish I could've done a little bit more.
It feels better as I do it. The key is during the course of a game, is it going to stay like that? Or at least that it stays the same, not regresses.