That being said, I just felt compelled to write an article on the most recent Astro to retire, as I feel that while I didn't see a lot of Craig Biggio's career, in this writers opinion, he is definitely what would be called a "throw-back" player, one who would have excelled no matter which decade he played in. Let's look at some of "Bige's" (Houston area nick-name) numbers.

3060, now that is a nice ROUND number, isn't it. This is the number of hits that Biggio ended his career with. It is a number that Houston Astro fans will remember for generations. Craig is the first Astro to reach this milestone, and probably the last for at least 20 years or so. The 3060 hits placed him 20^th in MLB history and he will more than likely occupy that spot for the next 5-10 years, as the next active player Barry "roids" Bonds is 135 hits away, and not likely to get that number, as it has been 4 years since he got that many hits in a season, failing to even reach 100 the past 2 seasons.

668, this is the number of doubles that Craig finished his career with. This number rank 5^th all time trailing only Tris speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial and Ty Cobb. Craig is the only strictly right-handed hitter in the top 5, Rose was a switch hitter and the 3 were lefties. Again, this spot in the record book is safe for quite a while as the next active is Bond at 601 and then Luis Gonzales is at number 20, 98 doubles away and he is 39 years old. Biggio also finished his career with a .281 batting average.

285, there are several record books that have him second all time in the hit by pitch category having being "plunked" 285 times. The all-time record, according to baseball reference.com is 287 by Hughie Jennings who played in the 1880's; yea those stats are really verifiable aren't they. It is amazing that he could be hit that many times and still survive 20 year career, but he did, which is what made Biggio Biggio. He made the All Star team 9 times at 2 different positions, catcher, which is what he was when he came up as a rookie and then as a second baseman, for which he excelled for many years winning 4 straight golden glove awards from 1994-97. Craig is the only player in MLB history to make the All Star team at these positions. Then after 14 years in the major's he realized that the Astros best chance to win a championship was for them to sign Jeff Kent who was also a second baseman, Biggio readily moved to the outfield to allow Kent to play second.

After 18 seasons it was beginning to look like Biggio and his teammate and best friend of 15 seasons, Jeff Bagwell were never going to make it to the World Series, this goal was finally realized in 2005, when the Astros made the playoff on the final day of the season as the wild card. Their playoff run started with a 3 games to 1 defeat of their longtime nemesis the Atlanta Braves. This lead to a NLCS match-up against fellow divisional winner the St. Louis Cardinals and Astro Basher Albert Pujols, once again the Astros did the improbable and defeated the vaunted Cardinals 4 games to 2 and it was one to the franchises first World Series appearance against the Chicago White Sox, where the dream came to a crashing halt, as the ‘stros were swept by the White Sox in 4 straight games.

Teaming with Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman and Derrick Bell, they earned the nick-name the Killer B's for their clutch hitting as well as their last name. Biggio was the leader of this group, as it was his tenacity, grit and determination at the leadoff spot that drove the Astros train. Biggio was as durable as he was consistent, playing in at least 130 games in 18 of his 20 seasons. The only two seasons Craig did not play in that many was in 2000 when a sever knee injury August 1^st put him on the shelf and then in the strike season of 1994 when he played in 114 of the 115 the team played. In his final game against the Atlanta Braves during the ceremony to honor his career Biggio stated "I want to thank the fans for accepting me here in the state of Texas for the last 20 years," Biggio said. "People ask me why I play the game the way I do. It's because you guys expect it. I love you. I'm going to miss you very, very, very much."

The one thing that Craig participates in that doesn't get a lot of attention is that he is a very active member of the Sunshine Kids. The Sunshine Kids is an organization that provides pediatric cancer patients opportunities to participate in positive group activities which promoted self-esteem, personal accomplishment and just plain old fashioned fun! Every season Craig brings a group of these children to the ball park to allow them the chance to get on the field, meet their heroes and be able to feel like a normal child, if just for a few hours. If there is one thing that deserves to be put immediately into the Baseball Hall of Fame, in which I am certain Craig, will be inducted into in 2012, it would have to be his on the field trademark. Through it all Craig's trademark has been his batting helmet on which he puts pine tar, dirt, and more pine tar on his batting helmet...and he likes it that way.

In closing I just want to say, Thank You Craig, you provided millions and millions a vision of the way the game of baseball is suppose to be played you represented the Houston area with a style that won't be seen again for a long time. You left a legend behind.

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