Biggio's second to last game

[78TaylorSS460]

Well, tonight Biggio plays his second to last game before he retires from baseball and the Astros. He will start at catcher tonight for old times sake like he did when he first started his carrer. I think Biggio is one of the best modern day baseball players. He has never used steroids and still has over 3,000 hits, always plays his hardest no matter what, even when they have no chance at the playoffs, and isn't full of himself. Just an all around great person and athlete. I also think that it's awesome that he has stuck with one team his whole carrer. I't gonna be weird watching the Astros next season without him. Biggio and Bagwell held the team together for a long time. My hats off to you Craig Biggio! It's going to be sad to see him go. It may just be that I'm a hardcore Astros fan, but I always enjoyed watching him play.

[HavasuSelect]

Well, tonight Biggio plays his second to last game before he retires from baseball and the Astros. He will start at catcher tonight for old times sake like he did when he first started his carrer. I think Biggio is one of the best modern day baseball players. He has never used steroids and still has over 3,000 hits, always plays his hardest no matter what, even when they have no chance at the playoffs, and isn't full of himself. Just an all around great person and athlete. I also think that it's awesome that he has stuck with one team his whole carrer. I't gonna be weird watching the Astros next season without him. Biggio and Bagwell held the team together for a long time. My hats off to you Craig Biggio! It's going to be sad to see him go. It may just be that I'm a hardcore Astros fan, but I always enjoyed watching him play.
He was a class act all the way. Hall of Famer for sure. The Astros won't be the same without
the "Killer Bee's"
P.S. Go 2008 Dodgers!

[Not So Fast]

How long did he play, and all with one team right? A rare oddity in todays world. Good role model and player, we need more like him!! NSF

[78TaylorSS460]

yep, all with the Astros. He started in 1988. Hall of fame for sure

[AZJD]

Well, tonight Biggio plays his second to last game before he retires from baseball and the Astros. He will start at catcher tonight for old times sake like he did when he first started his carrer. I think Biggio is one of the best modern day baseball players. He has never used steroids and still has over 3,000 hits, always plays his hardest no matter what, even when they have no chance at the playoffs, and isn't full of himself. Just an all around great person and athlete. I also think that it's awesome that he has stuck with one team his whole carrer. I't gonna be weird watching the Astros next season without him. Biggio and Bagwell held the team together for a long time. My hats off to you Craig Biggio! It's going to be sad to see him go. It may just be that I'm a hardcore Astros fan, but I always enjoyed watching him play.
Not discounting Biggio, but that is a pretty bold statement. They are atheletes, they all use them.

[rrrr]

Saw him play in his rookie season, I was living in Houston at the time. The guy is a real throwback, a great ball player, role model, husband, and father.
Hope he enjoys slowing down and spending time with his wife, the boys and his little girl.
Craig Biggio: Astros leader a true family man: while some major leaguers become stars and lose their sense of direction, it's refreshing to know there are role models like Houston's 15-year veteran
DARKNESS ENVELOPED Craig Biggio's home as he dragged himself out of bed at 6:50 am on a typical winter day. He brushed his teeth, put on some shorts and a T-shirt and headed to wake up his boys.
Most of the year, Patty Biggio Wakes up early and gets the children ready for school. But in the offseason, she catches a break by letting her husband of nearly 13 years get the two boys ready as their 3-year-old daughter sleeps in.
One light went on and then another as Biggio woke up his two biggest reasons for wanting to play out his career in Houston. By 7 am, 10-year-old Conor and 7-year-old Cavan have received their wake-up calls from their famous father.
Craig then released the family's two dogs into the back yard. And as the boys got ready for school, he was getting breakfast ready. Some days Biggio gives the boys cereal, toast and orange juice. On other days he makes waffles or pancakes.
"They like waffles," Craig says.
On this morning, Craig took the easy route and fed all the kids cereal before he and the boys left the house at 7:35. The goal is always to leave between 7:30 and 7:45. Making sure the boys are set, Craig dropped to one knee and helped Cavan tie his shoelaces.
For much of the baseball season, Craig sleeps in like the rest of his major league brethren. From mid-February until October, he spends half the time on the road. He misses most of the boys' Little League games, but he takes advantage of the offseason to attend school functions and the boys' basketball games.
Once the boys were in school, Biggio drove to Starbucks for his daily cup of coffee. By 8:15, he is parked outside Rice Stadium. Neighbor Jim McElhaney, who helped Biggio stretch out his arm in preparation for the move from second base to center field, joined him.
As soon as Patty arrives, the trio set off on a three-mile run around Rice University. Patty, who has already conquered the New York Marathon, set the pace and led from start to finish, as usual.
Patty went home after the run while Craig and McElhaney continued on the football field to work on throws. Biggio's children have always known their father as a second baseman. They never saw him as a catcher, where he was a National League All-Star in 1991 before earning an All-Star bid as a second baseman in 1992.
Biggio has played the outfield a few times during his children's lifetime, but this is the first year he went into spring training destined for center field.
For that reason, McElhaney played long toss with Biggio, who made his first throw from the one-yard line at Rice Stadium. McElhaney set up at the 30-yard-line. After five minutes, McElhaney moved to the 40-yard line.
Biggio's throws looped over perfectly to McElhaney, who caught the balls at the 40 and sent them back on one hop. By the time McElhaney moved to the 50, his throws came back on two or three hops.
McElhaney's throws weren't important, however. Fans are interested in Biggio's throws, and he was stretching his arm well heading into camp. Nobody said the move from second to center would be easy, but Biggio vowed to be ready at center while slugger Jeff Kent takes over at second.
"It's just going to be about putting in the time and the work," says Biggio, who is among the franchise career leaders in almost every offensive category, including a club-record 2,295 hits. "I know I can get a lot of work in on balls off the bat during batting practice."
Biggio is in his franchise-record 16th season with the Astros this year, and spring training promised to be the second-most challenging of his career. Nobody expects Biggio's move to the outfield to be more difficult than the shift he made from catcher to second in 1992.
"The transition from catcher to second is a lot more difficult," says Mets third base coach Matt Galante, the former Astros coach who helped Biggio move to second. "I don't think he'll have a problem. He always has that determination, and he's going to try to be the best.
"He wanted to win a Gold Glove as a second baseman, and he won four. We spent probably close to two to three hours a day with him and Andujar Cedeno. There was a turf field way in the back. When the practice was over we'd go out there and work for at least a couple of hours each day."
The Astros could not have been more pleased with Biggio's move to second. He owned the Gold Glove Award at second from 1994 to 1997. Offensively, he ranks third among major leaguers in hits during the past 10 seasons (1,671).
Among active players, he ranks fifth in runs (1,401), eighth in games (2,100, also an Astros franchise record), ninth in stolen bases (381) and eighth in hits (2,295). Teammates kidded Biggio about his decreased range at second base in 2001, but many scouts acknowledge that Kent's defensive range is not better than Biggio's.
Kent's signing was more about helping the Astros' sagging offense than improving the defense. Biggio could benefit because there should be more scoring opportunities for him with Jeff Bagwell, Kent and Lance Berkman batting behind him.
A career .288 hitter with 195 home runs and 869 RBI, Biggio hit .253 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 2002. His 96 runs were 22 fewer than the 118 he scored in 2001, but that could be attributed more to the weak production by the rest of the offense. Biggio was in scoring position only 10 fewer times in 2002 than in 2001.
Although it is impossible to know how much the move to center will help his offense, his knees will surely benefit from not having to crouch as much.
"It's a different type of position," says Biggio, the only player in major league history to earn All-Star berths as a catcher and a second baseman. "You don't have to bend over. You don't have to get ready for that rocket to be hit to you, to get down in that crouch position 300 times a game.
"Now you're standing upright. That's what I'm excited about, feeling better every day instead of aches and pains everywhere."
Going into the 2003 season, Biggio had played 68 career games in the outfield--39 of them in center, 27 in left and two in right. Most of those games in the outfield came in 1990, when he played 34 games in center, 18 in left and two in right.
"You try to listen to what everybody says and try to incorporate what you think is the best for you and go out and do it," he says. "I learned a lot from Terry Puhl, who was one of the best outfielders to ever play for the Astros. He taught me about different angles, different adjustments and hitters and how to play batters in different counts."
Biggio spent most of spring training learning to read balls off the bat. Playing day games in the Florida sun helped him prepare for regular-season afternoon games in which he must fight off the sun's glare.
"He is always a very intense and a very driven person," Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker says. "But I have never seen him more driven and more committed to getting out there and getting reacclimated to the outfield and being the best center fielder that he can be to help this team win a championship."
On a normal off-season day, Biggio heads to the gym to lift weights after working out at Rice. This day, he joined daughter Quinn at her pre-school for show-and-tell.
Quinn decided to show her four-month-old Yellow Lab, which Cavan received for Christmas.
By the time Craig returned home from his throwing session at Rice, Quinn was sitting at the kitchen counter eating pancakes as her mom looked on.
"Let's finish up your breakfast," Craig urges as Quinn looks up, smiles, takes a bite and fiddles with the food.
Wearing a pink dress and a pink bow on her head, Quinn finished breakfast, jumped out of the chair and headed in search of the puppy's leash. Craig followed, carrying Quinn's backpack and lunch pail.
The sight of Biggio holding a pink backpack and a lunch pail with tiny hearts was a dramatic contrast to the view most fans have had of the gritty veteran.
Biggio is totally transformed with his daughter, who brings out a milder side to a man who takes pride in getting his uniform dirty.
As Craig and Quinn walked in, eight children sprinted down the hallway to greet the puppy. They smile at Craig, but Quinn and her puppy were the stars.
After about 30 minutes, Craig hugged Quinn and left her at preschool. He put the puppy in the back of his SUV and drove home before heading to the weight room. He works on different parts of his body every day, and this day he worked on his back and biceps.
After a quick lunch, it was time to pick up Quinn at 2:30 p.m. and the boys 30 minutes later. The family headed to Conor's basketball playoff game at 5:45 p.m. By 7 p.m., Biggio attended a charity dinner for the West University Little League.
"Sometimes the season schedule is easier," Biggio says without a sense of complaining.
As negotiations for a contract extension heated up last winter, Biggio hoped the media speculation wouldn't bother his boys. Conor is in the fourth grade, and some of his friends asked about the negotiations.
The boys were understandably worried that their father might have to play in another city after this season.
"I've been here for going on 16 seasons," Biggio says. "I love this town, my community. My kids have their friends here. It's a nice city, and the city has been good to me. You keep (the boys) informed (about negotiations), but you keep it on the surface.
"You keep it positive. I got the ultimate reward when I told them we're going to be here two more years and they got tears (of joy). They were so happy. Conor was so excited. He's older and understands. I heard him say one day that if dad goes to another team, I'll see them for about three weeks in the summer."
Now that Biggio signed a one-year extension, he'll be with the Astros at least until the end of the 2004 season. The Astros hold an option for the 2005 season worth $3 million with a $1 million buyout, so there is a strong chance Biggio will finish his career with the only team he has known since he was drafted in the first round out of Seton Hall in 1987.
"When you talk about players who have played their entire careers with only one team, you talk about Robin Yount, you talk about Kirby Puckett, you talk about George Brett," Biggio says. "What's a pretty special thing. To me, being a baseball purist, I love having that opportunity."
More importantly, Craig doesn't want to uproot his family. Even if it meant a World Series ring with another team, he isn't sure leaving Houston would be worth it.
"This is one of the main reasons why I wanted this to work out," Biggio adds as he nudges Conor closer. "This is why I love being an Astro. I love this city. I love this organization. My family's been here. This is the only city that we've known."
JESUS ORTIZ
The Houston Chronicle
CAREER HIT-BY-PITCH LEADERS
Since 1900--Active players in boldface type
Don Baylor 267
Ron Hunt 243
Dan McGann 230
Craig Biggio 214
Frank Robinson 198
Minnie Minoso 192
Andres Galarraga 175
Kid Elberfeld 165
Brady Anderson 154
Fred Clarke 153
Chet Lemon 151
Carlton Fisk 143
Nellie Fox 142
Art Fletcher 141
Fernando Vina 141
Chuck Knoblauch 139
Frank Chance 137
Nap Lajoie 134
John McGraw 134
Jason Kendall 133
Brian Downing 129
Willie Keeler 129
Honus Wagner 125
Buck Herzog 120
Craig Biggio File
Year Team AB H 2B 3B HR R
1988 Astros 123 26 6 1 3 14
1989 Astros 443 114 21 2 13 64
1990 Astros 555 153 24 2 4 53
1991 Astros 546 161 23 4 4 79
1992 Astros 613 170 32 3 6 96
1993 Astros 610 175 41 5 21 98
1994 Astros 437 139 44 5 6 88
1995 Astros 553 167 30 2 22 123
1996 Astros 605 174 24 4 15 113
1997 Astros 619 191 37 8 22 146
1998 Astros 646 210 51 2 20 123
1999 Astros 639 188 56 0 16 123
2000 Astros 377 101 13 5 8 67
2001 Astros 617 180 35 3 20 118
2002 Astros 577 146 36 3 15 96
Totals 15 years 7,960 2,295 473 49 195 1,401
Year Team RBI Avg. SB
1988 Astros 5 .211 6
1989 Astros 60 .257 21
1990 Astros 42 .276 25
1991 Astros 46 .295 19
1992 Astros 39 .277 38
1993 Astros 64 .287 15
1994 Astros 56 .318 39
1995 Astros 77 .302 33
1996 Astros 75 .288 25
1997 Astros 81 .309 47
1998 Astros 88 .325 50
1999 Astros 73 .294 28
2000 Astros 35 .268 12
2001 Astros 70 .292 7
2002 Astros 58 .253 16
Totals 15 years 869 .288 381