Craig Biggio gets #3000

[TheTaxidermist]

If anybody has been following baseball (which I know nobody but a few has), you'd know Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros was trying to make history, becoming only the 27th player in MLB to get to the 3,000 hit mark in the 138 year history of baseball. Well tonight he accomplished the feat by going 3 for 4 (thusfar, the game is still not over yet) and driving in the tieing run in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Baseball is all about records and numbers. And 3,000 hits in MLB is about as difficult as getting 400 goals in soccer (from looking at soccer records) or 200 touchdowns for a quarterback or 100 touchdowns for a wide receiver. It's just a feat that as a player, seems to be impossible. Congratulations to him, he truly deserves it.

[Nick_Fury]

I think 3000 hits is going to be the new 500 home runs in baseball. It seems like this really shows who has been consistently good during his career and deserving of a spot in the HoF. There are a bunch of guys coming up on 500 homers but who is approaching 3000 hits?

[Not_My_Style]

Congrats to him, just heard about it earlier today.

Off topic: Sosa just got his 600th homer against the Cubs a few weeks back, which is also a very difficult goal to reach in baseball. Not sure how many people have reached that number...Taxi...fill me in.

[TheTaxidermist]

Only four other people have done that:
Hank Aaron
Barry Bonds (boo Barry, not cuz of roids but because he couldn't freakin throw out Sid Bream)
Babe Ruth
Willie Mays
and then Sosa (who even as a rival Cubbie for much of his career, I still like a bit because I just hated McGwire).


Closest people to 600 now are Griffey, Frank Thomas (who just hit #500 on same day as Biggio hit #3000), Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and Gary Sheffield. All of whom are easy hall of famers.

[MaxTheLimit]

By the end of next month Bonds is likely to overtake the home run record. Security and legitimacy are the primary concerns. I don't think security will be more of a worry than any other instance of baseball records broken. Legitimacy is up in the air though. Does anyone think there should be an asterisk beside his name? Me I say no.

[TheTaxidermist]

I hate Bonds (Not for the reason most do as I stated earlier). Did he use steroids? Yes, there is no question, the evidence is mounted against him. The question you have to ask yourself is...
despite the steroids, isn't 750+ homeruns still a really big number? I don't care how much steroids you use, if you can hit 750 homeruns in your career, you have accomplished somethin.

[MaxTheLimit]

It's quite a number. At the very least it should be made note of. But being as it's (at the very LEAST) heavy suspected Bonds was juiced during his heavy producing years, should he get the official record when he reaches the mark?

[Nick_Fury]

I don't see how they can't give him the official record seeing as there has never been any actual proof (except for visual proof I suppose)that he used steroids. As Taxi pointed out, however, you do have to be pretty damn good to hit 750 homers even with roids. Being really strong is only part of it.

[TheTaxidermist]

Hitting home runs is not just about arm-strength. Does arm-strength help? Yes, but it's more about torque your body creates when you rotate your upper body that puts momentum on the ball. Just look at Ken Griffey Jr. That swing doesn't look like it would give the ball much power, but the torque he puts on the ball just sends it flying. Alfonso Soriano is another good example of a swing that requires more torque than power. I'm not saying the steroids don't help in bat speed and things like that. Obviously it takes a large amount of skill to even make contact with the ball, let alone hit it out of the park. I liked the quote by Jason Schmidt, "If anybody accuses me of steroids, their suspicions will be immediately removed if they see me in the shower."

[Brendon]

People making such a big deal about steroids just don't understand how much is involved in hitting that well for that long. Did he use them? Probably. Then again, they weren't against the rules when he likely started, and TONS of people obviously used them.

The biggest thing is just the difference in medical care and training. You put Bonds back 25, even 10 years, and his knee injuries and back problem would have caused him to retire. Tons of pros in all sports are playing longer these days (and with less injuries), and that's why numbers are going up.

As for Biggio, I really think he should be in the HoF, and not just due to the fact he's what, the 26 or 27 player to hit 3000? Frank Thomas, on the other hand...I don't know. I want him in the HoF, but not a first balloter IMO.

[TheTaxidermist]

If Mazeroski made it in purely for defense, then I think Thomas deserves to be in as well. Maybe not a first balloter, but he definitely deserves to be in there.