Greg Lucas - Houston to Cooperstown: The Houston Astros Biggio and Bagwell Years

HOUSTON TO
COOPERSTOWN

The Houston Astros
Biggio & Bagwell Years

GREG LUCAS

FOREWORD BY BILL BROWN

Houston to Cooperstown

The Houston Astros Biggio and Bagwell Years

Copyright 2017 by Greg Lucas

Published by Blue River Press

Indianapolis, Indiana

www.brpressbooks.com

Distributed by Cardinal Publishers Group

Tom Doherty Company, Inc.

www.cardinalpub.com

All rights reserved under International and

Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a database or other retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-68157-053-2

Cover Design by Scott Lohr

Cover Photos: Astos Cubs Baseball by David Durochick / Associated Press

Editor: Dani McCormick

Book design by Dave Reed

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

In the pages to follow, Greg Lucas takes you through many of the most important times in the history of the Houston Astros, especially the teams of two Astro career Hall of Famers, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.

Greg has lived in Houston for thirty-five years and he has as good a sense of what has mattered to Houston as well as anybody. In his position as play-by-play broadcaster, field commentator, and studio host in his long career, he has been devoted to chronicling what matters to fans of many sports especially baseball fans. He is well equipped to take us on the long trip through the best era in the teams fifty-five years.

He incorporates stories from the beginning of the franchise to give the reader perspective in this comprehensive look at the owners, managers and players who have moved through our decades of memories. This book offers a terrific collection of the most memorable times in Houston from Colt Stadium to Minute Maid Park.

Years ago Greg and I were in Washington, D.C. on a road trip with the Astros. They had never played in the city until the Montreal Expos moved to our nations capital. But Greg had studied baseball history extensively and combed through countless baseball books, making him well aware of the history of baseball in every city. Naturally, he thought of old Griffith Stadium. Greg had packed with him a book of many of the historic ballparks with diagrams of each. He opened the book and we looked at the information inside, with some notes about various features including dimensions of the playing field and arrows pointing to where historic moments had occurred, such as a tape measure homerun hit by Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees.

It was not unusual to see Greg walking the streets of any major league city, sometimes for more than two hours. As with many long time baseball fans, he seemed to be literally turning back the clock to a time when automobiles were a luxury and time was not so pressing. He loved to find the location of old ballparks in places like Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, and Montreal for example. With the time for thinking those long walks could bring, a baseball fan can at times play mind games and see what his memory can conjure, with no need for television highlights and game analysis to be entertained.

Part of being a good baseball analyst/reporter is mastering the constant challenge of incorporating new information into each broadcast while reporting the exploits of the same small core of star players with grace over and over. The main characters remain the same, but facing daily challenges. The story lines can change gradually over long periods of time. Greg approaches this book in the same way, weaving previously unknown personal stories about Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell to help us understand them as people as well as athletes. He digs back into their high school and college years to allow us to embrace the foundations of their Hall of Fame careers. We learn how Craigs compassionate side surfaced early in his life when he helped a friend deal with tragedy. Decades later, he became a permanent part of the Sunshine Kids charity, helping families deal with their childrens battles with cancer. We also learn how the sudden and shocking death of a teammate on the baseball field affected Craigs life.

As the life stories of Biggio and Bagwell became intertwined, they steamed forward at full speed on course for Cooperstown. You will see how their blue collar work ethic instilled them in their quest for excellence. You will also see the forces in professional sports that tug at players and owners career choices.

There were many conversations with the media about the Biggio-Bagwell era, a rarity in modern pro sports, with two Hall of Famers both playing their entire career with one team and being teammates during that exciting era. They were both great players as well as great leaders.

It was not unusual for one media member to ask another, What do you think 7 and 5 will do about this? when a teammate of theirs failed to hustle. Referring to Biggio and Bagwell by their uniform numbers, as every day media members often did, was a way of honoring their professional ethics and treating them as the team leaders they were. When players like Derek Bell or Carl Everett brought some baggage to Houston from their previous stops, 7 and 5 made sure they stayed in line on the team and clubhouse while respecting their individuality.

Astro fans had a large presence at Cooperstown in 2015 when Craig Biggio became the first player to enter the Hall of Fame wearing as Astros cap. They lined the streets and cheered loudly, yelling out enthusiastic greetings to anybody they recognized from the Astros organization. The voices were heard by the nationwide TV audience from the grassy field in Cooperstown on induction day. Having been selected to join that honored body in early January 2017, it will be Jeff Bagwells turn in the summer. Craig Biggio will be on the stage with returning Hall of Famers that day. Number 5 and 7 will be linked again forever.

Bill Brown

The primary Astro television play-by-play announcer from 1987 through 2016, which encompassed the full careers of both Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. He is also the author of three books: My Baseball Journey, Houston Astros-Deep in the Heart and Breathing Orange Fire with Jose Altuve.

Courtesy of thatlostdog

Were enjoying the moment for what it is right now, so I dont even want to think about that factor.

Jeff Bagwell when asked about how the Biggio-Bagwell era may be near an end

In 2015 the Houston Astros got their own Hall of Famer. Two years later, they got their second. No two Houston players in the history of Major League Baseball more deserved to be the first two honored in Cooperstown more than Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. Not only do the pair own almost all the hitting records for the Colt45/Astro franchise, but no players have ever appeared in more games wearing a Houston uniform than those two. In fact, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the official keeper of Major League Baseball records, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell played in 2029 games together, which is the most ever for two Hall of Fame teammates. Their fifteen seasons together as future Hall of Famers is only equaled by the pairs of Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates, Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott of the Giants, and Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford of the Yankees. During the fifteen years they played together over a twenty-year period, the Astros had the best teams in franchise history. They were in pennant races thirteen of those seasons, including six in the postseason with a World Series appearance. It was the Golden Era of Houston Major League Baseball. It took some time to get there and has taken some time to get back. Houston has an interesting if not fully successful history.