In 5 years, it's Biggio's turn

FROM THE DALLAS NEWS

In 5 years, it's Biggio's turn

[SIZE=+1]Retiring Astros second baseman has a date in Cooperstown
[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]05:00 PM CDT on Saturday, July 28, 2007

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[SIZE=-1]By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com [/SIZE]

It seems only appropriate that Craig Biggio announced this week that he'd retire at the end of the season, the same week that Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn go into the Hall of Fame.
Biggio is one of them.
Just like Ripken and Gwynn, he's piled up more than 3,000 hits. Just like Ripken and Gwynn, he's spent his whole career with one organization. Just like Ripken and Gwynn, there is no doubt he is a Hall of Famer.

The 3,000 hits ought to make him an automatic, but you can choose any standard you want and he still ranks with the elite players of not only his generation, but of any.
Just consider these categories:
As a leadoff man: Biggio was both pesky and powerful. He entered Friday's game with a career on-base-plus-slugging percentage average of .819 in the leadoff spot. Since that stat was first applied in 1974, there have been 48 players to have at least 3,000 plate appearances in the leadoff spot. Only Wade Boggs (.841), who is already in the Hall of Fame, and Rickey Henderson (.822), who most certainly will be headed there, rank ahead of Biggio. Biggio ranks just ahead of Ichiro Suzuki.
As a second baseman: Biggio began his career as a catcher and had a dalliance with the outfield late in his career, but most of it has been spent at second. He, along with Roberto Alomar, redefined second base for the modern generation. No longer did second basemen have to be pesky runts or in the rare case of Ryne Sandberg, a sure-handed, slow-footed slugger. Biggio and Alomar, who each had more than 300 extra-base hits and 300 steals as second basemen proved second basemen could be dual-edged offensive weapons.
As a hitter, period: Biggio ranked 24th in hits (3,019) entering Friday's game and should break into the top 20 by the time his career is done. Henderson is 20th. Biggio has also been a doubles machine. Talk to scouts and they'll tell you doubles are the mark of superb hitters. Biggio began the weekend with 661, which ranked sixth, four behind George Brett. The guys ahead of Biggio: Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb and Brett. Keeping that company alone ought to be enough to gain you Hall entry (unless, of course, you bet on baseball).
And that's to say nothing of his loyalty or his sense of civic responsibility, which has most shown up in his support of the Sunshine Kids group, which is dedicated to helping children with cancer.
When the announcement came this week, I thought it was kind of odd timing. But as the week unfolded and it started to dawn that Biggio's sense of timing was actually perfect. He was calling it quits at just the same time that two guys just like him were being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Hall voters should remember that five years from now when they consider Biggio's worthiness. He belongs in the same grouping with the Ripkens and Gwynns. He belongs in Cooperstown.
egrant@dallasnews.com

Without a doubt first ballot.

Too many people get into the hall. He's a marginal hall candidate at best, but because it has been watered down, he's a first ballot entrant.

3000 hits is a watered down mark? He's the 27th player in the HISTORY of baseball to accomplish this. Not to mention all of the other stats he has. How in the hell is he marginal?

he will get in, but if you look at all the other 26 on that list there is no comparison, he is head and shoulders below anyone on the 3000 hit list club, he got there cause of longevity, not cause he was great. he was never even the best player on his own team, and probably not even the second best player on his own team. dont get me wrong, i like him a lot, but you know you got hitters like gwynn, cobb, aaron, boggs,clemente... he is just nowhere near that class. I don't think you should get a free pass to the hall cause you accumulated a ton of at bats, it's not fair that bagwell might not get in but biggio is automatically in, even though bagwell was by far the better player.

Biggio's Comparative Worth To Four Pretty Good Players


Just under 90% of Biggio's plate appearances have come from the top two positions in the batting order. Moreover, although he has played four different positions in his career, Biggio played slightly more than 70% of those starts as a second basemen. Accordingly, for purposes of a true comparative analysis, Biggio must be judged as a second basemen and a table setter.

In terms of era, games played, defensive position and position in the batting order, the four Hall of Famers most comparable to Craig Biggio are: (1) Joe Morgan, (2) Ryne Sandberg, (3) Rod Carew, and (4) Paul Molitor. Here is how Biggio compares to them.

Craig Biggio: .282 BA, 2977 Hits, 653 Doubles, 284 HR, 1142 RBI, 1806 Runs

Joe Morgan: .276 BA, 2517 Hits, 449 Doubles, 268 HR, 1133 RBI, 1650 Runs

Paul Molitor: .306 BA, 3319 Hits, 605 Doubles, 234 HR, 1307 RBI, 1782 Runs

R. Sandberg: .285 BA, 2386 Hits, 403 Doubles, 282 HR, 1061 RBI, 1318 Runs

Rod Carew: .328 BA, 3053 Hits, 445 Doubles, 92 HR, 1015 RBI, 1424 Runs

Even a quick glance at these statistics shows that Biggio is as good as, and perhaps even better than, all four of these Hall of Famers. He is first in doubles and home runs, first in runs scored, second in hits, and second in RBI. Clearly, these comparative statistics indicate a strong thumbs up for Biggio.

There are three types of lies, lies, damned lies and statistics