2005 – This wasn’t just an ordinary game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth for Jeff Bagwell. It was his first big league hit since mid-May when he decided on surgery to help an arthritic shoulder. There were no guarantees the franchise’s home run champ would be able to resume playing. His hit scores Willy Taveras for a 2-1 triumph over Milwaukee to keep the Astros a half-game ahead in the wild card race. Elsewhere, former Astro owner John McMullen, the man who signed the first million-dollar free agent (Nolan Ryan), dies at age 87. McMullen owned the ballclub from 1979 to 1992.
On September 16 , 2005 — This wasn’t just an ordinary game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth for Jeff Bagwell. It was his first big league hit since mid-May when he decided on surgery to help an arthritic shoulder. There were no guarantees the franchise’s home run champ would be able to resume playing. His hit scores Willy Taveras for a 2-1 triumph over Milwaukee to keep the Astros a half-game ahead in the wild card race. Elsewhere, former Astro owner John McMullen, the man who signed the first million-dollar free agent (Nolan Ryan), dies at age 87. McMullen owned the ballclub from 1979 to 1992.
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