I Love...Helmet
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by Editoratlegendofcecilioguante
Originally posted here.
"Brick, are you just pointing to things in the office and saying that you love them?"
"I love helmet!"
He's one of the more likable guys in the majors. And it's great to have something new to talk about in the sports landscape. I'm one of those who's staunchly in the "Craig Biggio is a hall-of-famer" camp. His stats are arguably HOF-material on their own merit, regardless of era. He'll finish up with around 3,100 hits, and he's got four gold gloves to his name. Check out a few more of the numbers cited below pulled from Wikipedia :
- Is the only player in Major League Baseball history with at least 600 doubles, 3,000 hits, 250 homers and 400 steals
- Led the majors in runs scored in 1995 and 1997 and in doubles in 1998 and 1999
- In 1998 became the second player to have 50 stolen bases and 50 doubles in the same season. The only other person to accomplish this is Hall of Famer Tris Speaker
- Holds the National League record for most lead-off home runs in a career with 52. He is 2nd in MLB behind Rickey Henderson (81)
- Is a 7-Time All Star
His all-time lead in the HBP category, while not HOF criteria, speaks to the way he played the game. Not to go overboard, here, but the guy was the consummate "baseball player." He could play multiple positions and never looked awkward, because he understood the game and was a straight-up ball player. He slid hard, didn't get doubled up, hustled all over the field and did it all the right way.
Now, I didn't live in Houston. He could be the biggest a-hole around. This is just the superficial observation-based opinion of a Northeasterner. But, based on that surface exposure alone, he's the kind of guy you'd want on your team. And if Sosa, McWire and Bond are "punished" by the allegations and doubt that swirls around them, who benefits? How about guys like Craig Biggio? It seems like justice to me.
So, what really immortalizes Biggio? It's the helmet, of course. C'mon...have you owned anything for 20 years? People can do an archeological dig on this thing. Sure, it's a bit disgusting, but I love it. Vlad and Manny have both been rocking their original helmets for quite awhile, but they're not in Biggioland yet and it's questionable whether they'll get there. By the way, did these guys freeze-dry motor oil on their hard hats? What in the...
Anyway, Biggio's helmet should be placed right beside his shrine in the hall. It symbolizes everything he was about. Here's to Craig and all of the crap that's accumulated on that skull-protector over two decades.
