The Best Day Of Jeff Bagwell's Life

On Sunday, Jeff Bagwell had his number 5 retired by the Houston Astros. The ceremony was attended by Bagwell and every other living number retiree, and featured a call from Bagwell's boyhood hero, Carl Yastrzemski.

Now, it's usually a great honor to have your number retired by a team. It's an honor reserved for a team's greatest players, who usually also happen to be some of the greatest ever. For example, the Milwaukee Brewers have retired the numbers of Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers, and Hank Aaron. All great players, all Hall of Famers. The Astros' retirees are a different story.

Nolan Ryan: He's a given. Mike Scott was probably the best pitcher to spend most of his career with the Astros. I can even see Larry Dierker, one of the franchise's inaugural players and latter-day manager. But Jimmy Wynn? Jim Umbricht? Jose Cruz and Don Wilson? I don't even know if those are real players. Are the Astros such a terrible franchise that this is what passes for greatness? They played in the Eighth Wonder of the World, for Christ's sake! Theirs is not so much a Hall of Fame as it is a Hall of Pretty Alright.

As for Bagwell, he is well-deserving of having his number retired. As for his chances in the actual Hall of Fame, those are a little more shaky. As a guy whose MVP year was the definition of "serendipity," he didn't play quite long enough, and his stats aren't quite good enough to make him a serious Hall candidate. Had he not become prone to broken hands, and continued to play at the same level for another 5-6 years, he's a Hall shoo-in. As it stands now, he's going to need a pretty big fanbase of sports writers to get in on any year's ballot.

Congrats anyway on a pretty great career.

Oh, and since Jeff ain't much to look at, I thought instead I'd post a picture of the ex-Mrs. Jeff Bagwell, who, shortly after their divorce, received $15,000 from gambling website GoldenPalace.com to sport their logo on her boobs for a month.

I'm sure that was the second best day of Jeff Bagwell's life.