Player in the Spotlight: Craig Biggio

No respect…it was the popular refrain of the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Whether or not Dangerfield was a good comedian is pretty subjective, but the merits of Craig Biggio leave no doubt that he has excelled at his chosen craft.

One man that hasn’t overlooked the contributions of Biggio is Bill James. In The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, published in 2003, Biggio is ranked as the 35^th best player…of all-time! (see p.361. James also follows on page 362 with a description of why Biggio is better than Ken Griffey Jr. to name but one player). Now before you start a Bill James for mental patient drive, let’s look at some of the details that I think support his position.


VERSATILITY

(1) Biggio is a 7 time all-star, 6 times at 2B and once at C. Think about that, he was voted one of the best players in his league at the hardest defensive position in baseball and as a middle infielder.

(2) With his 400^th steal the other night, Biggio the 4^th player ever to have 225 HR, 1,000 RBI, 1,500 Runs, 400 SB, 2,600 Hits, 500 2B and 1,000 BB. You might have heard of the other 3 because I think they were, or are, pretty good: Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds.


THE 2^nd BASEMAN

Biggio, who also qualifies at 2B in almost all fantasy leagues this year after being predominantly an OF the last two years, was one of the most prolific offensive 2^nd basemen of all-time. Here are his rankings, all-time, as a 2^nd baseman.

.293 AVG, 20^th all-time (based on 3,000 PA)
171 HR, 13^th all-time
716 RBI, 26^th
1,191 Runs, 14^th
310 SB, 17^th
.387 OBP, 12^th
.837 OPS, 10^th

That would be an amazing career, but Biggio didn’t stop with those 1,605 games at 2B (prior to 2005), he went on to play 363 games as an OF (on top of his 427 games at C). In fact, here is his career line as of May 2^nd, 2005:

.286 – 237 – 1007 – 1617 – 400 with a .373 OBP.

Now that should impress you, but if it doesn’t perhaps a little perspective is in order. The above list of the three players who can compare to Biggio’s accomplishments (Molitor, Henderson and Bonds) actually loses Henderson, so that in the history of baseball only Molitor, Bonds and Biggio have had careers with over a .285 AVG, 230 HR, 1000 RBI, 1600 Runs and 400 SB. Am I getting through to you finally?


THE ACHIEVEMENTS

While Biggio may not have the name recognition befitting a player of his versatility and talent, he does have a pretty impressive list of achievements to run down.

~ 7 all-star appearances
~ 4 Gold Gloves (as a 2B).
~ 5 Silver Slugger Awards

He also finished in the Top 10 in the league in:

~Games Played, 7 times
~AB, 10 times
~AVG, twice
~Runs, 9 times
~Hits, 6 times
~2B, 6 times
~SB, 5 times
~OBP, 4 times
~OPS, once

In fact, if we do a little mixing and matching, we can produce a historic season. Here are Biggio’s career highs in each category…what if they had all occurred in the same year?

.325, 22 HR, 88 RBI, 146 Runs, 50 SB with a .415 OBP and a .916 OPS.

In case you are wondering, and I know you are, no player has ever done all of that in one season.

One last set of numbers…here is an average season for Biggio over the last 10 years (1995-2004):
.289-18-68-111-23 with a .379 OBP

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty darn good for a leadoff hitter.


THE VERDICT

The contention that Biggio is one of the best players of all-time is beyond doubt in my mind. Never one, like teammate Jeff Bagwell, to call attention to himself, Biggio is hurt because of the relative anonymity that he receives from the media at large. No tattoos and no steroids for Biggio, he just busts his butt every day and gives the Astros all that he has. That type of effort and allegiance, when combined with his uncommon skills, should assure him a plaque in Cooperstown.


ADDENDUM

For those of you looking for more proof of Biggio’s greatness, you should look towards Similarity Scores (developed by Bill James). Similarity Scores is a system which takes into account all offensive information to render a player's overall offensive contribution (to read more about Similarity Scores see: http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/similarity.shtml). According to Similarity Scores, Biggio receives a mark of 833. How does that compare to some of the other all-time greats? How about if we compare Biggio to two HOF 2B: Joe Morgan- 833, Ryne Sandberg- 826

Told you he was good.


~ A special thanks to www.baseballreference.com for the numbers located in this article.

Ray Flowers, a member of SABR and FSWA, can be reached with comments/questions or suggestions at: ray@athomeplate.com. Please also visit Ray’s website at: www.wildpitch.blogspot.com for a plethora of baseball related posts and discussions.