ESPN is the f'ing worst. Homepage of their website is about the HOF pitching trio, with tributes to EACH. Nothing for Biggio. Nothing. On the front page. If Biggio played for NY, CHI, PHI, they'd be all over him. What a joke.
Go mention to a casual fan that Biggio was a better player than Jeter. They will furrow their brow and act as if you are crazy. Sure, the Captain won championships, but compare the two side by side. You're right. If Biggio played for the Yankees or Sox, we would see articles exclusively written about him.
That is because you would be... Jeter is a better player than Biggio; straight-up, 1:1 comparison, Jeter beats him in every relevant category. Not by a lot... but he has a higher BA, OB%, SLG%, OPS, OPS+, WAR... Then you throw in Jeter's excellence in the postseason, especially in comparison to Biggio's... I mean, no disrespect to Biggio - but Jeter was a better player.
Respectfully disagree Biggio had 144 more doubles, 31 more HR, 56 more SB Jeter had a better avg by 20 pts and on base by 14, scored 79 more runs And while Jeter played the premium position of SS, Bigg played the other 3 positions up the middle, and played them all well If Derek Jeter spent his career in Houston and Craig Biggio spent his career in NYY.....Biggio would have been a no doubt first ballot guy and would be plastered all over ESPN...and Jeter would have made it, second or third ballot...and wouldn't have his spot on ESPN frontpage with the pitchers
This same argument was made earlier in the thread and I respectfully disagree. What truly elevates Jeter is his postseason performance (which, while obviously overly-inflated by a lot of people, is still a few ticks better than his regular season performance: .308/.374/.465/.838). And he won how many rings while playing at a high level? Biggio, meanwhile, was decidedly not good in October. So if we literally switched their careers, Yankee fans would *not* lionize a great regular season player who routinely came up short in October... In fact, there's a good chance they'd summarily dismiss him. Yankee legends are rarely made in April through September. I mean, they don't call Reggie Jackson "Mr. July." And, look - Biggio sailed into the HoF with (IIRC) 82% of the vote on his third ballot - and would have gone in on his 2nd if not for an overstuffed ballot. He had plenty of support and his candidacy does not suffer from any sort of perceived bias. He was a great player and HoF worthy - but he's no slam-dunk, first ballot HoFer. I do agree - Biggio seems to be the third (or, technically, fourth) wheel in this weekend's ceremony - but I think it has more to do with the higher profile of the other players, along with them all being first ballot pitchers, which intricately links them. Jeter is a better player; I think it's hard to make a case that he's not. But it doesn't invalidate Biggio or his HoF worthiness.
The amount that Jeter was and is romanticized is unfathomable. Sure, he was a great player, but to put in context the other greats and their retirements...the Jeter (and Mariano, for that matter) media love-fest was unprecedented. The fact is, Jeter and Biggio had very comparable careers. Was Jeter better? Argument is in his favor, sure, but the gap is a lot closer than what Biggio is publicly given credit for. Despite their similarity, one gets flatly ignored while the other gets worshiped. Jeter's postseason success is undeniable. But it's also due to the vast opportunities he had in NYY. I would love to see Jeter spend his career in say, San Diego, just out of curiosity. Jeter did perform better in the postseason than did Biggio, but baseball is a game of averages. With a bigger postseason sample size, and with better teams and pitching staffs during his prime, perhaps Biggio would get more love.
We don't know what either would have done. Biggio didn't go to the postseason nearly as often as Jeter. His postseason numbers might have been better going every season, particularly in his 20s instead of only in his 30s. He also had to suffer an unusually high number of postseason games against Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz. His postseason career was a lot better without facing those 3.
You could also argue that you don't know what sort of career Biggio would have in NY. Not every single Yankee was great in the post-season despite multiple opportunities... not every player plays well in the constant spotlight/biggest stage year-in/year-out. Several players were better away from NY. Likewise, Jeter could have possibly put up "better" numbers as an Astro... without all the extra media scrutiny/attention. I can see both sides of it... in the end, Jeter was a great player on a great team. Biggio was also a great player.
Cool you are certainly entitled to your opinion If you think Jeter would be getting the same amount of attention if he had played in Houston Well then.....
Pretty cool SI vault article reposted by SI: http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/07/21/craig-biggio-hall-fame-houston-astros
I was always a Bagwell and Oswalt guy BUT Craig is on the short list of my hero's. What a great day to be a Houston Astros Fan!!
Biggio was never "great" as a defender, but he was good at 2B before the knee injury. Jeter was never even average at SS, even during his GG years. Just in a quick look at BR, one metric has Jeter at -182 runs allowed vs average replacement for his career, Biggio -70.
Biggest themes from the coverage so far: 1.) A TON of Astros fans there... every single camera shot... maybe its the "orange" that draws the eye, or simply the vast number as this is more "special" for Houstonians than any of the other cities... but you can't help but notice them. This is also being reflected in their coverage as the announcers can't help but point it out, which leads to them talking even "more" about Biggio than they may have planned on. 2.) Still the typical/expected/somewhat deserved bias towards the 3 first-ballot pitchers... but they all have a ton in common (all world series champion starting pitchers that got in on the first ballot) that nothing is really distinguising each individual one, which is leading to a "group" coverage of them.... meanwhile Craig is unique as the only position player/non-pitcher, thus you have to talk about him separately (when you do talk about him). Lastly, how was the HOF inductions covered before MLB network? Glad this is happening in an era where this is as widespread as it is.
Few questions: 1) Does anyone know what the order is of the inductees? When may Biggio's speech take place? 2) I do not have the MLB Network. Are any local channels simulcasting his speech? Thanks
Biggio will be inducted first here in a few minutes. Here is a MLB link: http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6261176/v263555683/hof-live-stream-presented-by-ford <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Portrait of Legends. The Hall of Fame Class of 2015 moments before the Induction Ceremony. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HOFWKND?src=hash">#HOFWKND</a> <a href="http://t.co/bk665s7yvu">pic.twitter.com/bk665s7yvu</a></p>— Baseball Hall (@BaseballHall) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaseballHall/status/625352709399515136">July 26, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>WATCH LIVE: Astros great Craig Biggio inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame. <a href="http://t.co/PEq8weeGwv" title="http://www.click2houston.com/sports/biggio-ready-to-enter-hall-with-johnson-martinez-and-smoltz/34355738">bit.ly/1Iw3bsr</a> <a href="http://t.co/Hl64FNaeCx" title="http://twitter.com/KPRC2/status/625359458726612992/photo/1">pic.twitter.com/Hl64FNaeCx</a></p>— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) <a href="https://twitter.com/KPRC2/status/625359458726612992" data-datetime="2015-07-26T17:38:08+00:00">July 26, 2015</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
