The old saying goes "All good things must come to an end."
And it holds true for Astros second baseman and future Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who is finally hanging up his cleats after two memorable decades with the Astros.
Biggio announced last week that this season would be the last of his career.
And what a career it has been for Biggio, who became the 27th player to reach 3,000 career hits on June 28. Biggio, along with good friend and former Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell, helped make the Astros a respectable franchise.
After the Astros made him the No. 22 overall pick of the 1987 major-league draft, Biggio quickly rose through the minors and was in the majors by 1988, playing 50 games at catcher as a rookie.
Those first 50 games yielded unimpressive numbers (.211 batting average), but those early stats would be improved on greatly later in his illustrious career.
The 1991 season was a turning point for Biggio, when he was moved to second base to alleviate the beating his knees were taking while playing catcher.
The move proved to be the best of Biggio’s career, and he and Bagwell went on to form one of the best right sides of the infield in baseball history.
His standout accomplishments include seven All-Star appearances (he was the National League’s starting second baseman from 1995-98), four consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1994-97 and five Silver Slugger Awards.
While Biggio is clearly a Houston legend, he hasn’t received the proper credit on the national level. When most non-Houstonians mention all-time great second basemen, names like Roger Hornsby or Joe Morgan come up, but Biggio’s name hardly ever does.
Biggio might not have the flashy power numbers that the aforementioned players had, but the grit he has played with his whole career transcends statistics.
Biggio is ranked 23rd on the all-time hits list (3,020), with a chance to shoot to the Top 20 if he can rack up about 36 more hits this season to pass up Rickey Henderson, who sits at No. 20 with 3,055 hits. He’s also only 12 homeruns shy of 300 for his career.
Regardless, Biggio has more than proven himself as one of the all-time greats. He was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004, but he will finally get the full national recognition he deserves five years from now when he enters MLB’s Hall of Fame.
