Continuing a series examining the candidates eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The writers' ballots are due by December 31st and the Class of 2013 will be announced in early January.
There are a whopping 17 players on this year's ballot with a higher career OPS than Craig Biggio's (.796). Compared to his power-hitting peers in the 1990s, his .281/.363/.433 line looks extremely modest. Yet as a multi-tooled player with a clean reputation, in contrast to the bloated steroid sluggers surrounding him on the ballot, Biggio has an excellent chance of getting elected to the Hall of Fame in 2013. Does he deserve that honor, on his own merits?
Biggio spent his entire 20-year career with the Houston Astros. He came up as a catcher, became primarily a second baseman, and played some outfield in his final years. His most notable career accomplishment: 3,060 career hits. That's the magic number. Only 20 players have more, all of whom are in the Hall except for Pete Rose and Derek Jeter. And it wasn't like all those hits were infield singles. Biggio is fifth all-time in doubles, behind only Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, and Ty Cobb. In fact, roughly a third of Biggio's career hits (1,014) went for extra-bases. That's good for 31st all-time. One fewer extra-base-hit than Mike Schmidt. The only middle-infielders with more are Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken Jr. Biggio wasn't a glorified singles hitter who just "stuck around" long around to accumulate 3,000 hits.
Biggio did a lot of other things really well. He scored runs in bunches, ranking 15th all-time with 1,844 (and tops among second basemen). He stole 414 bases at a 77% success rate. He is the all-time leader in games played among second basemen. He won four Gold Gloves. In an odd bit of history, he was hit by a pitch the second-most times in baseball history. An unorthodox skill, but one that still counts as a creative way of getting on base.
So all in all, Biggio accumulated 62.1 Wins Above Replacement in his career. How does that stack up against his peers at the position? There are currently 19 second basemen in the Hall of Fame. Nine of them have more career WAR than Biggio, and ten have less. So Biggio slots in perfectly as an average Hall of Fame second baseman. His career numbers are almost exactly in line with those of Roberto Alomar and Ryne Sandberg, two other second basemen recently elected to the Hall. Biggio's case is so easy, it's almost boring. He didn't dominate his position like a Bonds or a Clemens, but he's still more than worthy of a spot in the Hall.
Which brings us to Mike Piazza, a catcher who played primarily for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. Piazza is no Biggio. You can actually make a strong case for Piazza as the best player ever at his position. Catcher is such a demanding job with so many responsibilities that the offensive standard for the position is extremely low. Therefore what makes Piazza such a rare baseball specimen is that he was a catcher who hit like Frank Robinson:
Piazza's career: .308/.377/.545
Robinson's career: .294/.389/.537
Piazza is the greatest offensive catcher to ever play the game. His career OPS of .922 is tops all-time among catchers (it's also higher than Willie Stargell's OPS, and Ken Griffey's OPS, and Harmon Killebrew's OPS). The only catcher who even comes close is Mickey Cochrane, who finished at .897 but played in the 1930s. Piazza's OPS was nearly 100 points better than Yogi Berra's and more than 100 points better than Johnny Bench's. Only one other catcher has ever slugged .500 for his career (Roy Campanella, at exactly .500); Piazza slugged .545. No other catcher has ever hit 400 career home runs; Piazza finished with 427. During his peak between 1995 and 1997, he hit .348/.419/.602 and averaged 36 homers per year (as a catcher!!!). Those numbers are basically in line with Alex Rodriguez's best seasons. In those three years, Piazza finished 4th, 2nd, and 2nd in the MVP voting.
Piazza's flaw is his defense, which wasn't abominable (or he would've been moved off the position) but wasn't good. This is a big reason why he isn't the all-time leader in Wins Above Replacement at catcher. He's fifth, behind Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, and Ivan Rodriguez. However, consider that WAR is a cumulative statistic that depends on how long one plays, and Piazza had the shortest career of any of those catchers (16 years). Also consider that his dominance with the bat more than compensated for his shortcomings with the glove. Given his unprecedented level of offense at a valuable defensive position, isn't Piazza worthy of a no-questions-asked, first-ballot induction into the Hall?
He is, but in all likelihood, he won't get it. A few stubborn voters are going to make him wait. Because he had bulging muscles, and because he had back acne, and because players who refuse to be identified accused him of using performance-enhancing drugs. There is no substantive proof anywhere that Mike Piazza took steroids. Yet some writers are actually going to justify leaving him off their ballots by telling themselves "where there's smoke, there's fire." There's a good chance that Craig Biggio will be inducted but Piazza won't, which makes no sense considering the only difference between the two men is that Piazza was the victim of rumors, and Biggio was not.
Why? Why is Biggio above suspicion? Because he wasn't as big as Piazza? Because no one happened to report on his back acne? Because Piazza hit for more power? As discussed above, Biggio actually had a lot of power for a second baseman. His career high in home runs came when he was 39 years old, which certainly looks sketchy. He played in Houston with other guys suspected of steroid use, like Jeff Bagwell and Roger Clemens. Presumably he was familiar with their training regimens. Why does Biggio get a free pass?
The point here isn't to disparage Biggio's career; it's to point out the inherent idiocy in trying to "guess" which players used steroids and which players were clean. Doing so is irresponsible and unfair. Both Biggio and Piazza had obvious Hall of Fame careers. There's circumstantial evidence implicating both of them in steroid use, but the same could be said of almost anyone playing in their era. Voting in Biggio and keeping out Piazza is a silly double standard. Both deserve to be Hall of Famers in 2013.
My Ballot, As of Now
1. Barry Bonds
2. Roger Clemens
3. Mike Piazza
4. Craig Biggio
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