They're not as close as Astros fans would like to believe. He was much better friends with Alou, Kile, and Cammy. Biggio/Bagwell had one thing in common... they played for the same team their entire careers.
Bagwell did great. He seemed genuine and free flowing. He did wear the classic untucked dress shirt, jeans, and jacket on parade day. But cleaned up nice for the speech. Neither Bagwell nor Biggio signed at the parade, but overall represented nicely. Funny that Nolan Ryan's highlights showed while Gaylord Perry was being introduced, oops. Even though I think Ivan cheated, I though it was classless for the ESPN reporter to go so hard on him before the ceremony. The questions were fair, but wrong time and wrong place to throw 10 steroid questions at the guy. Let him enjoy his moment. 4 HOF Astros in 3 years inducted. Whoa. Times are changing.
It was a tremendous experience; we're about to head over to the museum to see his plaque before leaving for NYC. We're down about $12,000 in Bagwell/Astro-related merchandise but it's totally worth it. I documented the trip/experience on Twitter (@bags4hof) if you want a taste of what it was like. I have (looks at phone) roughly 6,372 other pics & videos from the weekend.
We were right there with you guys at the induction and when they mounted the plaque. Would have shook your hand if I'd have known which of the thousands of Astros fans you were! Great job, I've enjoyed your content for years.
So happy for him...and I can only imagine how satisfying it was to you given all the work you put into building his case from your seat on twitter. Fantastic! Genuinely happy for you that you got to experience that in person!
So did you ever get the chance to meet him in person? As much work as you've put into this, I'd like to think he'd want to thank you personally. Pretty universal praise for his speech and how humble he was/is. It was great of him to mention the clubhouse guys, the trainers, but especially to talk about the friends he has lost in Cammy, DK, and LimaTime.
I have not met him but I've been contacted by his people. He definitely knows about and is appreciative of the effort.
Well... thanks. I'd liken it to working on a political campaign. You make calls, knock on doors and, at the end of the day, are proud that you were active and engaged. And if your candidate wins, well - that's why you did it. I'm happy for him but there's no way I'm any happier than the likely millions of Astros fans who had the chance to watch him play. I was enraged by how he was being treated by the BBWAA so I'm certainly proud to have participated in the somewhat democratic process. But, mainly and sincerely, I'm 100% happy an egregious wrong was finally righted and he's in. I do wonder what I'm going to do with all this free-time.......
This. Jeff (especially) and Craig have a lot of respect for what each other accomplished on the field and for the fact that they played together for so long. However Jeff and Craig are VERY different people, have and had very different lifestyles off the field and really didn't interact all that much away from the game.
It was really great to see so many out there so shortly after Biggio got in. We were definitely the most well represented (surprisingly I'd say Raines was the next most). If not for Puerto Ricans coming out, Pudge would have been very poorly represented. How about the boos for Bud? Between the Montreal fans now without a team and the way the Astros were treated in 2008 and then switching leagues, he probably wishes it had been next year instead. I couldn't imagine spending that. I thought about buying a few different things, but just couldn't justify spending more money on an already expensive trip. I ended up just buying stuff to bring back to my kids and a couple of cheap keepsakes for myself. Cooperstown was way different than I expected, but in a very good way.
Even my wife noticed how few Ranger fans were there. I'm racking my brains - isn't he the first RANGER to go in? I know they had Ryan - but Pudge was the first player most would instantly associate with the Rangers, right? Am I missing someone? Man, the wife and I fell in love with the town. We rented a small apartment in town & were able to walk EVERYWHERE. It is so.... just awesome. Now, as I understand it: we had unseasonably AWESOME weather (high in the low/mid 70s; 50s at night). And, of course, I've never been there during winter (supposedly runs Halloween through Mother's Day). But we started kicking around the idea of buying a place there and renting it out. It's white picket fences and huge front porches and lemonade stands and... I can't recommend the experience enough. I want to go back when an Astros isn't getting inducted and spend about 458 hours in the museum. (And, btw - finished our weekend with a game at Yankee Stadium last night. Oh boy, is that thing incredible.)
Rangers fans just suck as it turns out. There was a place for sale on the way to the induction ceremony that I was like I could totally retire there. I realize they've been doing it for 70 years now, but it is amazing how well that tiny little town manages to accommodate thousands of fans. I'm a little curious to what it is like outside of the induction weekend. Maybe when my kids are older I'll make it back. Fenway was incredible. I had been so disappointed by Wrigley, but Fenway felt like magic. If they didn't have problems keeping their concession stands stocked, it would have been perfect.
Steady stream of people/guests, per our landlords. They obviously do brisk business in the summer. It really is a baseball fan's mecca.
This. This, this, this. The Hall of Fame has my respect again. There are still a couple egregious exclusions, but none so ridiculous as Bagwell out and the Fat Hurt in.
