Jeff Bagwell will find himself on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2011, his first year of eligibility. A good question would be, Is Jeff a first ballot Hall Of Famer? This is sparking another debate entirely, though, among fans and analysts alike: Is Bagwell a Hall Of Famer at all?
In short, I would answer the latter question "Are you crazy? Of course he is!" Through 15 seasons(Bagwell's entire career) he put up very similar numbers to Frank Thomas. When I ask any baseball fans if they think Frank Thomas is a Hall Of Fame player, they always definitively say yes. Some people go further and tell me he's a first ballot Hall Of Famer. So if this is true, why do they have trouble putting Bagwell in, in their mind?
Through 15 seasons, Frank Thomas' stat line reads: .307/448/1465 .995 OPS, 2136 H, 1327 R, 32 SB. Jeff Bagwell's career stat line reads: .297/449/1529 .948 OPS, 2314 H, 1517 R, 202 SB. I think that reads pretty well close overall. Anyone who argues otherwise, simply didn't read the statistics.
Jeff Bagwell was one of the most feared hitters of the 1990s. He won the 1994 MVP in the strike shortened season putting up the following stat line: .368/39/116 1.201 OPS and NL leading 104 runs scored. That mirrors Frank's 1994 MVP season of .353/38/101 1.217 OPS and MLB leading 106 runs scored, and it actually may slightly best it depending on how you look at it. Jeff Bagwell was also named 1991 NL Rookie Of The Year, putting up .294/15/82 .824 OPS.
Jeff is the Houston Astros career leader in Home Runs (449), RBI (1,529), Walks (1,401), Runs Created (1,715), Sacrifice Flies (102) and Intentional Walks (155). He is also their single season leader in Batting Average (.368 in 1994), On-base percentage (.454 in 1999), Slugging Percentage (.750 in 1994), OPS (1.201 in 1994), Runs (152 in 2000), Total Bases (363 in 2000), Home Runs (47 in 2000), Walks (149 in 1999), Times on Base (331 in 1999), Intentional Walks (27 in 1997) and At Bats per Home Run (10.3 in 1994).
Bagwell also had a 2nd place MVP finish in 1999(.304/42/126 and league leading 143 R/149 BB) and 3rd place MVP finish in 1997(.286/43/135 1.017 OPS). He was awarded Silver Slugger three times, was a four time All Star, and won a Gold Glove in 1994. In 2001's New Historical Baseball Abstract, written by Bill James, he is listed as the fourth best first baseman of all time. In 2007, the Astros retired Jeff Bagwell's #5.
After reading this, I don't know how any baseball fan could say he is not a Hall Of Fame player. Maybe he is not a first ballot Hall Of Fame player in the way that his American League counterpart Frank Thomas could be, but he is certainly a HOF worthy player. There are some out there who believe he took steroids, but I don't know how this could even be proven. Even if you just look at the "supposed leaked" list that came out in 2004 on the internet(and we have no clue as to the validity of this said list), it doesn't list Jeff Bagwell as one of the 103 players.
Bagwell was part of the Killer B's lineup, which featured two Hall Of Fame players in my mind(the other being Craig Biggio). I think that both players will reach the Hall Of Fame in time. While I could see the argument that he should not make it on the first ballot, waiting to put him in beyond the second ballot would be asinine. He is clearly great.
If you need just one more statistic to understand the argument, here it is: Bagwell's career OBP(.408) is higher than Tony Gwynn's career OBP(.388). Yes Tony Gwynn, the guy who lead the league in batting average 8 times and hit .338 for his career. I say Jeff Bagwell should get into the Hall Of Fame in 2012, and that would be just fine. 2011 will be the year for Robbie Alomar, and will finally be the year of justice for Bert Blyleven who should have been in several years ago. Bagwell admitted he doesn't foresee himself getting in on the first ballot, and he's fine with that. Second ballot Hall Of Famer is still great.
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