Jeff Bagwell Shrugs Off Hall of Fame Snub

Jeff Bagwell said he was neither shocked nor disappointed upon learning Wednesday that he got 41.7 percent of the vote for election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I'm just thank thankful I'm even on the ballot, and we'll go on from here," the former Houston Astros slugger told reporters by telephone.

Bagwell, who went onto the ballot this offseason, hit 449 home runs, reached base in 41 percent of his career plate appearances, won a Gold Glove as a first baseman and received the National League MVP award in 1994.

He also played in the Steroid Era, and his candidacy has inspired an unusually heated and public debate among voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

"People are going to have suspicions when you play in the era I played in," Bagwell said.

Bagwell reiterated on Wednesday that suspicions of steroid use directed at him are ill-founded. In fact, he called them "ridiculous" and added: "Just because I'm going to work out? C'mon."

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Bagwell's candidacy inspired pointed commentaries by voters, including two leading lights at Sports Illustrated, Joe Posnanski and Tom Verducci.

Here is Posnanski:

"I would say this to those people who would not vote for Jeff Bagwell because they simply believe he used steroids, based on how he looked or some whispers they hear. I have a better idea: Let's just burn him at the stake. If he survives, you will know you were right."

Posnanski said the claim by baseball writers that steroids-related suspicion of Bagwell is enough to not vote for him "makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. This is PRECISELY what I was talking about when I said how much I hate the character clause in the Hall of Fame voting."

Here is Verducci:

"Bagwell was an admitted Andro(stenedione) user who hired a competitive bodybuilder to make him as big as he could be, who claimed, McGwire-like, that Andro 'doesn't help you hit home runs,' who went from a prospect with 'no pop' to massively changing his body and outhomering all but six big-leaguers in the 13 seasons before steroid penalties (Ken Griffey Jr and five connected to steroids: Bonds, Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire and Juan Gonzalez), and who condones the use of steroids -- but said, 'I never used.'"

Bagwell told reporters that he didn't expect to gain 75 percent of the vote needed.

"I wasn't really worried about it," he said. "Guys are going to vote that way. It's just the way it is. I promise you: I am not disappointed. I'm happy to get that many votes.

"I've done everything that I can on the baseball field. I can't change people's opinions and how they see my career. I'm OK with that."
- Jeff Bagwell "I've done everything that I can on the baseball field. I can't change people's opinions and how they see my career. I'm OK with that."

Bagwell said induction into the Hall of Fame would be the "pinnacle" of his personal career.

"You can't ask for anything more than to get inducted into the Hall of Fame," he said.

He mentioned Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, who received 45.3 percent of the vote as a first-timer in 2002 but was elected last year with 77.9 percent. Bagwell termed it "fairly disgusting" that Dawson "waited so long."

Ironically, some voters said Dawson's career feats took on extra significance because they came before the Steroid Era.

• The top voter-getter not elected into the Hall of Fame was Barry Larkin, the former Cincinnati Reds shortstop who received 62.1 percent of the vote. The only other player above 50 percent was pitcher Jack Morris at 53.5, his highest mark in 12 years on the ballot.

• McGwire dipped to 19.8 percent, his smallest number in his five years. Now the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, McGwire hit 583 home runs, which is 10th all-time, and his home run ratio (one per 10.6 at-bats) is first. He admitted to using steroids during his career.

• For the second consecutive year, left fielder Tim Raines' vote went up seven percentage points, to 37.5 percent. Raines debuted on the ballot in 2008.

• In his 15th and final year on the ballot, outfielder Dave Parker received 89 votes (15.3 percent).

• Seventeen candidates failed to make the five-percent cut this year, including 15 of the 19 players who were on the ballot for the first time. Among the first-timers who fell short was pitcher Kevin Brown (2.1 percent). Brown's pitching statistics compared favorably with many Hall of Fame candidates who stayed on the ballot for at least a year. The Mitchell Report named Brown as one of a group of Dodgers implicated in steroid use.

• First-year candidates beyond Bagwell who received sufficient support to remain were Larry Walker (20.3 percent), Rafael Palmeiro (11 percent) and Juan Gonzalez (5.2 percent).

• A record 581 ballots, including five blanks, were cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. This year, 436 votes were required.

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FanHouse TV's Steve Phillips breaks down what the 2011 Hall of Fame election results mean for those who earned their place in Cooperstown and those who did not.