Killer B

Craig Biggio entered tonight needing 4 hits for 3,000 in his career. Biggio is an interesting player when looking at his place in history.

He started his career as a catcher before winning 4 Gold Glove awards at 2B; only Sandberg, Morgan and Mazeroski won more in the NL. He leads all active MLB players in doubles with 658, is 6th in history, and is the tops among right-handed batters in history.

Biggio led the NL in runs twice and scored 100 or more 8 times; his 1,820 runs are 15th in history. He was a top base stealer in his prime and got hit by an unusually high number of pitches.

On the downside, he struck out frequently and never had an MVP-type season; his highest finish was fourth in 1997. His career BA is .282 and he had only four .300+ seasons.

Nonetheless, he compares favorable to several Hall of Famers (not all second basemen, but contemporaries). He has more homers (286) than Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan and Ryne Sandberg. His BA is better than Morgan's (.271) and comparable to Yount's and Sandberg's (both .285). His .800 OPS is better than Sandberg's .796 and Yount's .772. In fact, his BA and OPS both are better than Cal Ripken's (.276 and .787). But Yount, Morgan and Ripken all won multiple MVP awards and Sandberg won one. Molitor finished second once and had an .817 OPS.

According to Hardball Times, Biggio ranks second in win shares for all active batters, behind only Barry Bonds. He is third among all active players; Roger Clemens is the only pitcher ahead of him. Hardball Times also came up with a calculation for "win shares above bench," which ranks Biggio as the fifth greatest second baseman in history. It's an interesting list and you can check it out here.