Graphic from Seton Hall Athletics
One of the best all-around position players in baseball will now be headed to Cooperstown in July to be inducted into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Craig Biggio, who spent his entire 20-year MLB career as a Houston Astro playing at catcher, second base, and as an outfielder, is one of four that will be inducted on July 26.
Seton Hall Athletics
He received 82.7 percent of the vote after falling just short with 74.8 percent last year.
Developing into a Major League player at Seton Hall under legendary head coach Mike Sheppard from 1985-87, Biggio was just as remarkable in the blue and white just as he was as an Astro. His No. 44 has been retired by the university, which is one of just 15 in the school’s history. He led the Pirates to a 121-55-1 record in his three-year career as a Pirate and to the program’s first Big East Championship in 1987. Biggio was also named a First-Team All American that year by Baseball America.
Biggio is Seton Hall's career leader in triples, is second in runs scored and ranks in the Pirates' top-10 in 18 other single-season and career statistical categories. A career .342 hitter with 27 home runs, 148 RBIs and 90 steals, he was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
Biggio was a seven-time All Star as an Astro and won four Gold Glove awards during his career. He was just the ninth player in MLB history in the 3,000-hit club to record all of his hits with the same team. Biggio is known for his transition as a catcher at Seton Hall because the Pirates needed one, and that paid off when he was called up by Houston in 1989. He would later transition into being a player that the Astros could rely on at almost every single position. Biggio, who wore No. 7, was the ninth player in Astros history to have his number retired.
He joins John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez, and Randy Johnson as the inductees. It is the first time that four will be inducted since 1955.
You can reach John Fanta at john.fanta@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @John_Fanta.
