My "boyfriend" Biggio

So I was just reading some of my posts from last season. Hmmm, funny, I could just copy and paste some of them to today's blog! Lately there's not been much to get excited about with my Astros. I still love them, but they have been less than fun to watch recently (especially on television...the announcers are KILLING me, which is a whole separate post for another time). Thankfully we've won both games I've been to, and I'm going again Wed. night, so we'll see. I have not complained too much about the team's performance of late for two reasons:

1. Lidge has been removed from the position of closer, and Dan Wheeler, the guy I've been saying for 2 years should be our closer, is now such. It's just too bad we don't have need for him lately. Sorry, I digress; back to Biggio...

2. Biggio's run to his 3000th hit. This is huge. Seriously, it's HUGE. I think because I've grown up watching him (and loving him, both as a player and as a "boyfriend"), when the season started, I wasn't thinking about what a big deal this is. As of today, he has 2,953 hits. Um, that means there are only 28 people (as of right now) in the history of baseball who have more career hits than he does. And as I was checking my numbers on that stat, I ran across a few other categories where little Pigpen, as I used to call him, has made his mark:

hit by pitch - he is 2nd (all time), with only 5 more plunks needed to break the all-time record (set in like 1902 or something)

doubles - as of today, the count is 643, which means he ranks 8th all time, just ahead of Honus Wagner and ahead of other greats like Hank Aaron and Cal Ripken, Jr.

games played - he ranks 24th all time (with today's count being 2,732). If he plays only 100 more games this season, he'll rank 16th, and he's only had 2 seasons in which he played fewer than 130 games, one of which was the year they went on strike. Last year he played 145 games (which would mean 122 more this season), so if he matched that, he would rank 15th. I'm not counting on him playing many complete games after he reaches 3000 hits though.

plate appearances - he ranks 14th all time with 12,049

at bats - he ranks 15th with 10,451

bases on balls - he ranks 58th, which may seem low, but if you think about it, he's a lead-off hitter, and most of the players who are frequently walked are power hitters, of which he is not. He is, however, very good at fouling off pitches until he gets a pitch he likes (or is walked). I once saw an at-bat that lasted 21 pitches (or something insane like that); he just kept fouling them off.

total bases - he ranks 33rd with 4,556

I wish I knew how many players had played in MLB games in the history of the game. I do know there are over 200 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Imagine being in the top 20 on several lists when there are that many hall-of-famers. How amazing!

All in all, I am looking at this season differently. While I want my Astros to do well and to win, I have something else to look forward to: Biggio. I think it's safe to say this is his last season. Lately I've regretted not paying more attention to the game and the players when I was so close to the team. There are players I wish I had gotten to know better (and some whose careers I wish I had gotten to know better).

But I was just a teenage girl who happened to be friends with the coach's daughter and got to spend every summer home game night at the Dome...and I had a crush on a new player named Biggio.

I hadn't quite fallen in love with the game of baseball just yet. Oh the irony...