Props for an Icon
Not to sound like Uncle Drayton or Richard Justice, but it occurred to me during last night's game how ridiculous Craig Biggio has been for 17 seasons in an Astros uniform. Granted, I may have been a bit nostalgic from his first inning HR or the copious amounts of Coors Light, but I was struck how much the guy has meant to the organization for the better part of my life.
Big-gi-o has a lifetime BA of .286, 250 HRs, 1,039 RBIs, and 2,740 hits. Scott's hero, Bill James, anointed Biggio as the best player in the game for a season or two in the mid to late 1990s. He's also played C, 2B, and OF throughout his career. Until this year (when it appears he finally pulled rank about playing any more OF, thus unfortunately retarding Chris Burke's growth at his natural position), he always did whatever the team asked of him. Most impressively, Bidge took less money to stay an Astro, spurning bigger dollars in Colorado a few seasons back to finish what he started in H-town. In my book, that willingness to leave money on the table is all too rare and usually indicative that the athlete is a stand-up guy.
You'll never get me to admit that building those statues outside MMP of Bagwell and Biggio WHILE BOTH PLAYERS WERE STILL ACTIVE was a good idea. But I will gladly admit that Craig Biggio has been one of the, if not THE, most important player(s) ever to don a 'Stros uni. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and we should be happy to have had the chance to watch him throughout the years.
Big-gi-o has a lifetime BA of .286, 250 HRs, 1,039 RBIs, and 2,740 hits. Scott's hero, Bill James, anointed Biggio as the best player in the game for a season or two in the mid to late 1990s. He's also played C, 2B, and OF throughout his career. Until this year (when it appears he finally pulled rank about playing any more OF, thus unfortunately retarding Chris Burke's growth at his natural position), he always did whatever the team asked of him. Most impressively, Bidge took less money to stay an Astro, spurning bigger dollars in Colorado a few seasons back to finish what he started in H-town. In my book, that willingness to leave money on the table is all too rare and usually indicative that the athlete is a stand-up guy.
You'll never get me to admit that building those statues outside MMP of Bagwell and Biggio WHILE BOTH PLAYERS WERE STILL ACTIVE was a good idea. But I will gladly admit that Craig Biggio has been one of the, if not THE, most important player(s) ever to don a 'Stros uni. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and we should be happy to have had the chance to watch him throughout the years.
posted by Anonymous | 10:03 AM
2 Comments:
I posted a comment to Tom Kirkendall's post (http://blog.kir.com/archives/002218.asp) about Biggio and Berkman earlier this morning. Biggio absolutely is a 1st-ballot HOFer. Berkman, however, I believe still has much to accomplish. I won't regurgitate the numbers I posted to Tom's blog, but check them out once he adds the comment.
Can you imagine if Biggio had been a Yankee or a Cub and received a nauseating amount of national exposure? I believe he'd have gone down as one of the most popular players of all-time.
The statutes outside of MMP should have started with Nolan Ryan IMHO.
Post a Comment
<< Home