Craig Biggio is Not a Hall of Famer

Craig Biggio recently got his 3,000th hit and sportswriters and his teammates alike have been fawning over how he is a first ballot hall-of-famer. Usually 3,000 hits is considered a benchmark number that guarantees a player hall of fame status. Hell, there is even a bad movie about this fact starring Bernie Mac.. The fact that Biggio played at second base, also has 280-plus homers, 600 doubles, and 400-plus steals buttresses his 3,000 hits. Moreover, sportswriters just love to talk about what a great teammate he is, how unselfish he is, and how much he has given back to his community. If that were the end of the story, then yes, I would agree that Biggio is a first ballot hall of famer. But it's not and he's not. He was a good player for a while and an above-average player for a long time. But he was never dominant and was never truly a great player for more than a couple seasons in '97 and '98. The hall of fame is for dominant players, not very good ones who just played for a long time.

Biggio is 42 years old. He has played in the majors for 20 seasons, far longer than most players and most second basemen. Biggio has the lowest batting average among players with 3,000 hits. He only has one 200 hit season. He has never won a batting title. He is 11th on the all-time strikeout list even though he's not a power hitter (he's only 122nd on the all time home run list). His highest showing in MVP voting was two top five finishes.

This shows that he accumulated those seemingly great career numbers not by having a lot of dominant seasons but by playing many more seasons than most players as an above-average player. This is not greatness. This is not hall-worthy. He is not someone who you will tell your children you got to see play like roger clemens or derek jeter or randy johnson. 3,000 hits is not that impressive when your career batting average is only .282. Look at his last few years and he has been a real drag on his team. Hell, if Roberto Alomar had found a team willing to hurt themselves to let him hit .250 for a couple seasons he would've gotten 3,000 hits as well. Ichiro will probably get 3,000 hits in 13 seasons whereas it took Biggio 20. 3,000 hits is good but considering these other facts it's really not that impressive.

The fact of the matter is that Biggio must be compared to his peers, not second basemen of the past. Biggio played during the juiced ball era. Even though he started playing in 1988, he hit the vast VAST majority of his homeruns after 1995. He hit 40% of his homeruns after the bandbox minute maid park opened up in 2000, the year he turned 35. Unless you take roids, you don't have a power spike after you turn 35. I'm not saying he took roids but it's clear his home stadium has been a huge pad to his career stats. Check out his home/road splits the last few years:

2007 (.300 avg/.468 slg home, .190/.290 road),
2006 (.298/.522 home, .178/.278 road),
2005 (.291/.540 home, .235/.386 road).
2004 even.
Reverse '03.
2002 .270/.427 home, .231/.379 road.

He has 11 more career homeruns in minute maid than in the astrodome despite having 1000 more career at bats in the astrodome. In the astrodome he hit 291/430. In minute maid he hit 286/469 - better numbers even though he should have been in career decline mode due to age. The fact of the matter is that if he had played before the 90's and 00's, he would not put up anywheres near the numbers he has ended up with.

The only real way to fairly determine his skill is to compare him to his peers, in which case he clearly does not belong in the hall. Middle infielders are no longer defensive positions like they were before the 90's. There have been a ton of great offensive players to play and second and short over the last 20 years who were way more dominant than Biggio. Jeff Kent, Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada, Alfonso Soriano, Nomar Garciappara, Bret Boone, Chase Utley, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez... all of these guys have had far superior power numbers and overall seasons than Biggio has been putting up. The only difference has been durability and consistency. Many of these guys have not lasted as long as Biggio has, so they have not put up the same career numbers. But they have all had far more dominant seasons than Biggio ever had in his career.

Joe Morgan put up the same power numbers as Biggio but played during the second dead ball era in the 60's and 70's. That's way more impressive than Biggio.