Monday, September 24, 2007

Craig Biggio

Craig Biggio will be retiring at the end of the season. This is sad, Biggio was one of my favorite non Sox players, and always played the game hard, and with class. He's the kind of guy its easy to root for, and the kind of guy everyone wants on their team. Good luck to him in whatever he plans to do in the future.
Craig Alan Biggio (born December 14, 1965 in Smithtown, New York) is a seven-time All-Star Major League baseball player who has played his entire career with the Houston Astros. On July 24, 2007, Biggio officially announced that he will retire at the end of the 2007 season.

# Hit his 3000th hit on June 28, 2007 at 9:14 PM, to a sold out crowd at Minute Maid Park.

# Led the majors in runs scored in 1995 and 1997 and in doubles in 1998 and 1999.

# In 1997, became the first player in baseball history not to hit into a single double play while playing an entire 162 game season. Two players, Augie Galan (1935) and Dick McAuliffe (1968), had previously played an entire season with the same feat, but did not play in as many games in their respective seasons.

# In 1997, scored 146 runs, which is the most of any National League player since the Phillies' Chuck Klein scored 152 runs in 1932.

# Tops the Astros' career list in games played, at-bats, runs scored, hits, doubles and extra-base hits.

# Holds the record for most regular season games played before his first World Series appearance with 2,564.

# In 1998 became the second player to have 50 stolen bases and 50 doubles in the same season. The only other person to accomplish this is Tris Speaker.

# Holds the National League record for most lead-off home runs in a career with 53. He is 2nd in MLB behind Rickey Henderson (81).

# Is a 7-Time All Star.

# Hit a game-deciding grand slam on July 24, 2007, the same day he announced his retirement. It was also his 2nd grand slam of the year and the 4th of his career.

Over his career, Biggio has gained a reputation for being hit by pitches. Some have even gone so far as to proclaim him the "king of hit batsmen." On June 29, 2005, Biggio broke the modern-era career hit-by-pitch record, previously held by Don Baylor with 267. He is currently the active leader in this category, and trails only Hughie Jennings on the all-time list with 287. As of August 13, 2007, Biggio had 285 HBP, and needed 3 more to break the 103-year-old record. Despite being hit by a record number of pitches, Biggio has never charged the mound, and has had no serious injuries as a result of being hit

TomC

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