"Jeff Bagwell's second day in front of baseball's legacy tribunal known as the Baseball Writers Association of America should go better than his first. They almost always do with some voters reluctant to name a player a first-ballot Hall of Famer unless he was the elite of the elite.

How much better will be the key as the 15-year Astros great will learn his fate with the rest of the nominees at 2 p.m. today.

Bagwell got 41.7 percent of the vote from 10-year-tenured members of the BBWAA last year and like every candidate, needs at least 75 percent to gain admission and 5 percent to remain on the ballot."