COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Whatever the final estimated attendance ends up being for the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2017 Induction of Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez, John Schuerholz and Allan “Bud” Selig, one thing became certain on Induction Eve: Bagwell’s Houston Astros fans made the long journey to Cooperstown, New York, many of them for the second time in three years.

“And we brought more people this time,” said Randy Garcia of Baytown, Texas, almost 1,700 miles away from the small New York town.

The Garcias and the O’Bannons, also of Baytown, were two families who made the trip to Cooperstown in 2015 for the induction of Craig Biggio, the first Hall of Famer to have an Astros logo on his HOF plaque. They returned this year for Biggio’s fellow “killer B” Jeff Bagwell, the Astros’ longtime first baseman.

Bagwell and Biggio were lifetime Astros and teammates for 15 years in Houston; on Sunday they will become the first two players with Astros logos in the Hall.

“We figured we would come back, because who knows when we will get another chance,” said Gloria O’Bannon. “It doesn’t look like Lance Berkman did quite enough to make it in.”

But with the Astros leading the American League West Division by 17 games on Saturday night and Astros second baseman Jose Altuve hitting more than .500 for the month, spirits were high for Houston fans all over Cooperstown.

“There’s a woman from Houston staying at the B and B,” said Pat Szarpa, co-owner of the Owl’s Landing Bed & Breakfast of Cooperstown, “and she said she’s impressed with how many people are here from Houston.”

Szarpa was working on Main Street on Saturday, selling raffle tickets for the Rotary Club of Cooperstown’s Hall of Fame merchandise raffle. She said the perception on the street is the crowd is slightly smaller than last year’s induction of Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza.

“It seems not quite as intense as the past few years,” she said.

Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz said the New York crowd for former Met catcher Mike Piazza may have given last year’s crowd – tied for second with 1999’s induction of Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Orlando Cepeda and Robin Yount with an estimated 50,000 fans – an extra boost.

“You can’t underestimate having a New York component,” he said.

However, with the Houston fans holding up their end of the induction mix, the total attendance for 2017 will hinge on Sunday’s late-arriving crowd.

Manny Milete of Valley Stream, Long Island was draped in a Puerto Rican flag, but said he comes to see all players. He started coming last year for Piazza and Griffey and said he plans to come back every year. But even he said he was surprised by what he saw in this year’s crowd on Saturday.

“I can’t believe there are so many people from Houston,” he said.

In addition to Rodriguez fans, buses are expected from Montreal, Quebec, and Hartford, Connecticut. Raines played the first half of his career with the defunct Expos, and Bagwell was born in Boston and grew up in Connecticut, attending college at the University of Hartford.

Klein writes for the Cooperstown, New York, Crier.