Former Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell was passed over for the Hall of Fame along with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire this month, but he’s emerging as a player in a sleazy and bruising divorce battle between his reported girlfriend Rachel Brown and her estranged hubby, hand surgeon Michael Brown.
The Browns’ strange and scandalous breakup has shocked Houston, where Bagwell played during his entire 15-year career, and brought to light Bagwell’s relationship with Rachel.
In court earlier this year, Rachel testified that her husband — who was acquitted on 2010 felony assault charges relating to a dispute at the couple’s home — required supervision while visiting their small children because, “He goes into fits of rage.” She reportedly said he’d thrown vases, mugs, wine glasses and shoes.
Brown, owner of the Brown Hand Center and a fixture of Houston society, denied her rage claims but admitted to paying women — up to three at a time — for “companionship,” but testified that his children would not be exposed to him “dating” or to other adult activities.
Meanwhile, Rachel, who’s said she plans to marry Bagwell, in court acknowledged using cocaine and Ecstasy after her kids were born, but said she’d stopped drugs in 2009.
She also told the court that Bagwell had recently gone to rehab to be treated for alcohol abuse, but he left before he completed the program. Bagwell has always denied using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.
Now, Michael’s lawyers have filed a motion in the divorce case, saying he’s been denied supervised visitation with his kids because Rachel wants Bagwell to have more access to them.
“The scuttling of a biological father’s limited ‘visitation’ with his two children unless Jeff Bagwell has unlimited visitation with these children is ‘devoid of logic’ and shameful,” writes Michael’s attorney Robert J. Hantman in court papers filed Jan. 11. The next hearing in the case is set for Feb. 7.