Jeff Bagwell, ex-Astro (and Hall-of-Famer!)

The inevitable happens.

Awhile ago, a writer on espn.com's Page 2 (it could have been Jim Caple) made the case that, when one considers all five tools, Jeff Bagwell was the greatest third baseman of the last fifty years.

Sound odd? Consider every Hall-of-Fame third baseman since 1960. Bagwell had slightly less power numbers that McCovey, Stargell, Killebrew and Murray (all hit at least 475 home runs to Bagwell's 449), but with a higher batting average (.297) than all four. His batting average (.297) is the same as Orlando Cepeda's, but with more home runs (Cepeda hit 379).

So, his offensive numbers are in the mix with the five who are in, and this was while a considerable number of them in the Astrodome, which was only the worst hitters' park of all time.

Add to this that could field and throw better than any of the above (some were outright defensive liabilities). And as for baserunning, it isn't close; he set a baseball record in 1997 by going from first to third on singles 150 times, and he is the only player--at any position--to hit 400 homers and steal 200 bases.

One could make the argument that Stargell or McCovey was more dangerous, or more clutch, or more something--but to find a first baseman significantly better than Bagwell, one would have to go back more than half a century, to gentlemen named Foxx, Mize, Greenberg, Sisler, Gehrig.

Jeff Bagwell is a Hall-of-Famer.