Born in Boston, Massachusetts, as the only son of Janice (nee Hare) and Robert Bagwell, Jeff Bagwell and his family moved to Killingworth, Connecticut, when he was one year old. Much of Bagwell's family is from the Greater Boston area, including both his parents, and are avid fans of the Boston Red Sox. His favorite player, Carl Yastrzemski, was a longtime left fielder for the Red Sox. Robert, from Watertown, pitched college baseball at Northwestern University and as a semi-professional.

The high school which ruminated Bagwell, Xavier, officially retired his uniform number 9 in a commemoration on January 30, 1999. As the "Killer B's" brand gained increased national attention, journalist Dayn Perry jocosely noted that in 1999 the Astros, "in pursuit of arcane history, used eight players whose last names began with 'B'", including Bagwell, Paul Bako, Glen Barker, Bell, Sean Bergman, Lance Berkman, Biggio, and Tim Bogar. On April 21, Bagwell realized three home runs in a 10-3 win against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, his second career three-home run game. The second home run allowed him to overtake Wynn as the Astros' all-time home run leader at 224 and he tied a career-high with six RBI in one game. Bagwell produced another three-home run game on June 9 against the Chicago White Sox that was a grand slam short of the "home run cycle", accounted with a solo home run, a three-run home run, and a two-run home run, respectively. The two three-home run games made him the only player to accomplish this feat at two different stadiums in Chicago in the same season.  Nominated to his fourth career All-Star Game, Bagwell to that point in the season had scored or driven in 28.6% of the Astros' runs, the highest portion of a team's offense for which any one player in MLB accounted. He was stationed first in the NL in walks (83), runs scored (81) and OBP (.464), second in HR (28), RBI (78) and SLG (.648) and had 17 base thefts while Houston tenanted percentage points behind Cincinnati for first in the division. On August 20, 1999, he walked a major-league record six times in a 16-inning battle against the Florida Marlins.  Bagwell's aggregate output in 1999 included leading the major leagues in runs scored (143), bases on balls (149), and games played (162). He also batted .304, hit 42 HR, 126 RBI, and .591 SLG and stole 30 bases, giving him his second 30-30 season. Further, he paired with Barry Bonds as the only major leaguers to obtain the 40-30 mark (40 home runs and 30 stolen bases) twice. The Astros engulfed the Reds to clinch the NL Central division title in 1999, their third consecutive. They faced Atlanta in an NLDS rematch of two years prior but were defeated in four games. The NL MVP balloting materialized with Bagwell scaled second to the Braves' Chipper Jones. Bagwell was honored with the third Silver Slugger Award of his career.

did he have a wife and children?