So he’s going to retire…
There are going to be a myriad of articles over the remainder of the season trying to capture the impact that Craig Biggio has had on baseball in Houston over the past 20 years. Some will focus on his leadership, some on his on-field prowess, some on his relationship with the fans, or his family, or the evolution of the filth on his batting helmet. Anything imaginable will be fair game, and considering the hacks that cover this team the most, I would expect at least a few less than admirable attempts to sum up his brilliant career in 750 words or less.
The sheer longevity that Pigpen has displayed is impressive in Astros circles, as he’s the seasons played leader by a pretty comfortable margin over Jeff Bagwell. He’s also tied (with 43 other players) for 96th place in the history of Major League Baseball. (I’m tempted to make a lame labor union/seniority joke here, but I’m holding back.)
When a player plays for 20 years, he’s going to play with a lot of players. Biggio has been fortunate to play on winning teams, averaging 85 wins a season, and (so far) only living through 3 losing seasons. Because he’s been playing at a .523 clip for his career, he’s probably played with fewer teammates than, say, someone who had spent the last 20 years with the Pirates, but he’s still managed to play with quite a few.
Since his call up in the summer of 1988, Biggio has played with 332 different teammates, from Bobby Abreu to Eddie Zosky. The teams Biggio has been a part of have averaged 40 players each season. That works out to 15 players every year getting a cup of coffee, acquired by trade, picked up off the scrap heap (I’m looking at you Marc Valdes), etc. after opening day. For example, Biggio has played with:
34 B’s (Backe, Bagwell, Bailey, Bako, Baldwin, Barker, Barrios, Barzilla, Bass, B. Bell, D. Bell, E. Bell, Beltran, Bergman, Berkman, Berry, Bland, Blum, Boever, Bogar, Borbon, Borders, Borkowski, Bottenfield, Bowen, Bream, Brocail, Brumley, Bruntlett, Buchholz, Bullinger, Burke, Burns) most of whom were barely dangerous looking.
15 Mikes…by far the most of any name (Brumley, Burns, Capel, Felder, Gallo, Grzanich, Hampton, Henneman, Jackson, Lamb, Maddux, Magnante, Scott, Simms, Williams)
5 Toms (Howard, Edens, Gordon, Martin, Greene) 9 Dicks – Not counting Clemens – (Gedman, Scheid, Hidalgo, Parker, Rhoden, White, Wilkins, Gutierrez, Stone) and 1 Larry.
Manny (Barrios), Moe (Ensberg) and 2 Jacks (Howell and Daughtery)
Larry (Andersen), his brother Darryl (Kile) and his other brother Daryle (Ward)
2 Matthews (Albers, Mieske), 8 Marks (Bailey, Davidson, Grant, Loretta, McLemore, McLemore, Portgual, Small), 1 Luke (Scott) and 6 Johns (Cangelosi, Fishel, Franco, Halama, Hudek, Johnstone)
1 Fernando, 1 Hipolito, 1 Humberto, 1 Julio, 1 Octavio, 3 Orlandos (Merced, Miller, Palmerio), 3 Pedros (Astacio, Borbon, Martinez), 1 Roberto, 1 Rodrigo, and 1 Wilfredo.
So for your entertainment, I’ve put together a few rosters. The only condition to appearing on any of the following was that the player during at least one point in his career was on the Astros’ 25-man roster at the same time Craig Biggio was. Everything else is based on my memory and personal peccadilloes.
All-Time Biggio Teammate Line-up
C – Brad Ausmus SP – Roy Oswalt
1b – Jeff Bagwell SP – Roger Clemens
2b – Billy Doran SP – Nolan Ryan
3b – Ken Caminiti SP – Randy Johnson
SS – Adam Everett SP – Darryl Kile
LF – Moises Alou CL – Billy Wagner
CF – Steve Finley
RF – Lance Berkman
There were some close calls here, but not as many as I expected. I thought about putting in Carl Everett or Carlos Beltran in CF over Finley. Longevity and the fact that Beltran is a moley whore gave it to Finley. Plus Steve believes in dinosaurs. Because I’m nothing if not inconsistent, I still put Johnson as one of my starters, even though Shane Reynolds played with Biggio for 11 years, and Johnson was an Astro for like 11 days.
So that’s a pretty impressive list, but it just talks about starters, leaves off a lot of players, and it’s hard to make an all-time bench…do you go with the 25 best players, or do you decide between Dave Clark and Charlie Hayes? So getting more granular, I came up with:
All-Time Biggio Teammate Line-ups by Number of Seasons Played
Ta-Da! So for different periods of longevity, the idea was to put together the best 25-man rosters that I could come up with. For the most part, I tried to only play players in positions they played with the Astros, or if they were pitchers, I tried to keep the starters in starter slots and relievers in relief spots. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.
5+ Seasons (37 players to choose from)
C – Ausmus SP – Oswalt
1b – Bagwell SP – Shane Reynolds
2b – Casey Candaele SP – Mike Hampton
3b – Caminiti SP – Kile
SS – Everett SP – Mark Portugal
LF – Luis Gonzales RP – Xavier Hernandez
CF – Gerald Young RP – Brian Williams
RF – Berkman RP – Brad Lidge
Bench – Tony Eusebio RP – Octavio Dotel
Bench – Jose Vizcaino RP – Jose Lima
Bench – Ricky Gutierrez CL – Wagner
Bench – Mike Simms
Bench – Bill Spiers
Bench – Derek Bell
With a couple of exceptions, this looks like the team from 1997-1999. I could have put Spiers at 2nd instead of Candaele, but my options were limited at a couple of positions. Bruntlett isn’t good enough to make this team. One of the other limitations was Relief pitching. Lima is only on the team because I had an open roster spot, and he happened to relieve in 1997. And Gerald Young? Well, center fielders don’t hang around for a long time in Houston. Notables left off this roster were Richard Hidalgo, Morgan Ensberg and Wade Miller.
4 Seasons (36 players to choose from)
C- Mitch Meluskey SP – Mike Scott
1b – Mike Lamb SP – Pete Harnisch
2b – Chris Burke SP – Scott Elarton
3b – Russ Johnson SP – Jim Deshaies
SS – Eric Yelding SP – Brandon Backe
LF – Kevin Bass RP – John Hudek
CF – Finley RP – Dan Wheeler
RF – Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes RP – Danny Darwin
Bench – Julio Lugo RP – Juan Agosto
Bench – Tim Bogar RP – Jose Cabrera
Bench – James Mouton CL – Todd Jones
Bench – Orlando Palmerio
There weren’t enough position players to populate my bench. I’m looking for 2 more players, one of which needs to be a back-up catcher. I suppose I could have put Backe on the bench, and added Greg Swindell or Doug Drabek to the team instead, but I’m still short someone. This team has the worst infield of any of the imaginary teams by far. Same with the bullpen. Never mind. This is worst team period. Left off were a few pitchers: Drabek, Swindell, Chad Qualls, Chris Holt and Al Osuna, amongst others.
3 Seasons (32 players to choose from)
C – Eddie Taubensee SP – Roger Clemens
1b – Glenn Davis SP – Andy Pettitte
2b – Doran SP – Jim Clancy
3b – Sean Berry SP – Wandy Rodriguez
SS – Orlando Miller SP – Donne Wall
LF – Alou RP – Larry Andersen
CF – Willy Taveras RP – Doug Henry
RF – Terry Puhl RP – Pete Munro
Bench – Randy Knorr RP – Joe Slusarski
Bench – Orlando Merced RP – Brian Meyer
Bench – Chris Donnells CL – Dave Smith
Bench – Luke Scott
Bench – Ray Montgomery
Bench – Glen Barker
Glen Barker? Okay the other choices were Louie Meadows, Mark Davidson and Carl Nichols. This team has 2 good starters, a hit or miss bullpen and arguably the best offense of any of these teams. Defensively, with Taubensee and Miller…eh. Also left off Alex Trevino, Eddie Tucker and Humberto Quintero. Houston Astros…Not so much with the Catching.
2 Seasons (72 players to choose from)
C- Alan Ashby SP – Bob Knepper
1b – Jack Howell SP – Bob Forsch
2b – Jeff Kent SP – Ron Villone
3b – Denny Walling SP – Jimmy Jones
SS – Craig Reynolds SP – Sean Bergman
LF – Billy Hatcher RP – Doug Brocail
CF – Carl Everett RP – Mike Magnante
RF – Bobby Abreu RP – Jeff Tabaka
Bench – Greg Zaun RP – Dave Veres
Bench – John Cangelosi RP – Chad Harville
Bench – Mark Loretta CL – Doug Jones
Bench – Ken Oberkfell
Bench – Geoff Blum
Bench – J.R. Phillips
Ugh. Good thing this team looks like it can hit, because unless it’s an even numbered year, they have no pitching. Maybe Magnante can ratchet up that scaffolding around his knees to start every now and then. And this is the cream of the crop. Believe me. Notably left off this roster…15 Game Winner and horrible speller Jeriome Robertson, Harry Spilman, Chris Truby, Brandon Duckworth and Dan Miceli. Think of how bad the players I’m NOT bothering to list must be.
1 Season (155 players to choose from)
C- Tony Pena SP – Ryan
1b – Franklin Stubbs SP – Johnson
2b – Mark McLemore SP – Dwight Gooden
3b – Buddy Bell SP – Rick Rhoden
SS – Jose Uribe SP – Joaquin Andujar
LF – Carlos Lee RP – Curt Schilling
CF – Kenny Lofton RP – Mike Jackson
RF – Carlos Beltran RP – David Weathers
Bench – Kirt Manwaring RP – Tom Gordon
Bench – Sid Bream RP – Mitch Williams
Bench – Vinny Castilla CL – John Franco
Bench – Aubrey Huff
Bench – Hunter Pence
Bench – Steve Henderson
You have to sift through a lot of crap, but you can put together a pretty salty line-up. Especially if you’re willing to ignore the “performance” several of these guys gave while in Houston uniforms. Even with Rhoden, they have the best rotation by a ways, good defense up the middle, and power on all the corners. Leftovers include Dave Magadan, Craig Shipley, Phil Plantier, (nearly the entire mess the Astros got in exchange for Caminiti in 1995), Roger Cedeno, Greg Gross, Pete Schourek, and Woody Williams.
And because I don’t know when things aren’t entertaining any more, here are some other lists:
These are the Daves Craig Knows he Knows: Borkowski, Clark, Hajek, Magadan, Matranga, Meads, Mlicki, Rohde, Smith, Veres, Weathers
All In-Season Acquisition Team
C – Rick Wilkins P – Randy Johnson
1b – Aubrey Huff P – Pedro Astacio
2b – Mark Loretta P – Dan Wheeler
3b – Vinny Castilla P – Tom Gordon
SS – Tim Bogar
LF – Chuckie Carr
CF – Carlos Beltran
RF – Stan Javier
Milo’s Nightmare Team
C- Eddie Taubensee P – Dan Schatzeder
1b – Roberto Petagine P – Mike Grzanich
2b – Craig Smajstrla P – Joe Slusarski
3b – Dave Magadan P – Hipolito Pichardo
SS – Andy Stankiewicz
LF – Pete Incavilgia
CF – Dave Hajek
RF – Benny Distefano
All Noun Team (the stretching for material begins here, for those of you keeping track)
C – Pat Borders P – Mark Grant
1b – Mike Lamb P – Brian Fisher
2b – Buddy Bell P – Blas Minor
3b – Sean Berry P – Roger Mason
SS – J.R. House P – Donne Wall
LF – Kevin Bass P – Ricky Stone
CF – Chuckie Carr
RF – Colin Porter
All Disappointment Team
C- Rich Gedman SP – Ryan Bowen
1b – Jose Tolentino SP – Jim Clancy
2b – Keith Ginter SP – Brandon Duckworth
3b – Charlie Hayes RP – David Weathers
SS – Pat Listach CL – Mitch Williams
LF – Eric Anthony
CF – James Mouton
RF – Dave Clark (this has to be a mistake…)
And speaking of Disappointments…The All Names That Sound Vaguely Like Diseases or Jewish Foods Team
C – Tremie P – Tabaka
1b – Zosky P – Mallicoat
2b – Pankovits P – Hartgraves
3b – Cromer P – Scheid
SS – Oberkfell
LF – Plantier
CF – Fishel
RF – Distefano
Attached below is the complete roster of the Biggio Era, and the years they were on the Astros during that span. Please feel free to contribute your own lame attempts at lists in the Talk Zone.