March 25, 2006
More on Bagwell
Bagwell started his career in 1991, and from 1991 to 2005 he was fifth in the majors in home runs with 449. It's an impressive total, especially given than he spent the first nine years of his career hitting in the Astrodome. Notice that number six on the list is Frank Thomas, who was born on the exact same day as Bagwell. That's nearly 900 home runs from two players the exact same age. That was a good day to be born.
Note, too, that Biggio and Bagwell were first and third in doubles over this time.
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honestly i am not surprised.
baggy looked like his shoulder hurt every time he moved his arm.
i gotta take my hat off to his courage. a whole lot of guys would have shrugged and took the money.
i hope that when he comes up for the hall in 2011 all the east coast AL writers will have done their job and realize how great a player baggy really was. no other first baseman has been a 30 30 guy, let alone TWICE.
i hope he stays with the organization, if he wants to keep working, he don't really have to ever work again...
re: birthdays
Willie McGee (batting title with the cardinals, 1985, .353, .298 career average, a mess of stolen bases and a great hitter and fielder, spent 20 years in the majors) and I share the same birthday.
For many years I convinced myself so long as Willie was a pro I wasn't really middle-aged.
--arthur john kyriazis
--philly