The Pecan Park Eagle

“Old hitters never die,
They just bang away!”

Biggio is #13 on the All Time AB List

If you are an exceptional position player, one who is a great contact hitter, and also one who stays healthy over time, compiling a large total of official time at bat is one career statistic that you shall be assured of racking up on a high digit basis.

In the history of baseball, only 27 players in MLB history have reached and surpassed the five digit figure of 10,000 official at bats and only Craig Biggio, so far, represents the Houston Astros on that countable side of the ledger.

With 10,876 official times at bat beside his name – and also as an “Only Astros” career (1988-2007) player – Craig Biggio checks in at the # 13 spot on the all time list.

If you care to check out the complete list of earnest baseball souls – or meditate through the other fanciful record comparisons at Baseball Almanac, you may wish to click the following link and dedicate the rest of the day to that little hungry fugue into the baseball research project germination room that you shall find there:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hiatbat1.shtml

Here’s the part of the table that applies to Mr. Biggio’s participation in the all time “at bats” list:

Again, here are a few questions that sometimes help, if you are looking for a research topic to write about or discuss.

1) Is there anything in the page on screen that simply jumps out and shouts, “Hey! Here I am! Research and write about me?”

2) Are some of the other names on the list pulling you to write about something with them that you  haven’t already read elsewhere, many times over?

3) Beyond his exceptional ability, stamina, and career health, what does Craig Biggio’s 10,876 times at bat and 13th spot on the all time list say to us about Craig Biggio?

And, I guess that last question about Biggio contains an answer that applies to just about every name on these “all timer” lists. Every one of these Hall of Fame quality players cared enough about baseball to give the game “a commitment of effort over time with positive results.” Every player on this list, no matter how they differed by personality and social compatibility, was a man who gave himself to the game of baseball in his own unique way.

Think of Craig Biggio’s accomplishment here in this light. Of the few dozen handfuls over 15,000 that have played declared and rated major league baseball since 1871, only an identified single dozen players have played the game at this highest level and achieved a greater number of times at bat than Biggio’s 10,876 official trips to the plate. And, like Biggio, all but 2 of the 12 players with higher At Bat totals are inducted members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. At Bats Leader Pete Rose, of course, remains outside the HOF for reasons tied to his ban from the game for gambling on baseball during his career. AB List #7 man, Derek Jeter,  is still too newly retired from active playing status to be on the ballot for deserved induction into the Hall.

Greatness and longevity. Craig Biggio had both. And that’s what he gave us as a twenty-year member of the Houston Astros.

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Tags: Biggio is #13 on the All Time AB List

This entry was posted on November 30, 2017 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.