There Are Still Men

Dr. X posts this from the Riverwalk in Houston (really):

"Probably the least-known of the greatest 50 baseball players of all time, Craig Biggio has toiled in his Texas backwater for 20 years. Yesterday, he announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Then, he went out and hit a game-winning grand slam.

"Some odd facts about Craig Biggio:

"- As noted, he has played all 20 years of his career for one team.
"- He appears to be happily married and faithful to his wife.
"- He does a lot of volunteer work, raising about $2mm a year for kids with cancer.
"- He is considered 'old school' and 'a gamer'.

"On the baseball side, he is arguably the best infielder of his era. Bill James ranked him #35 of all time in his Historical Abstract. The case is pretty strong - he's durable, he plays a key defensive position very well, he hits like a sonofabitch, and he steals a ton of bases as well. Other notes:

"- He is the only man in history to make the All-Star team at two positions. He came up as a catcher (caught one of Nolan Ryan's no-hitters), then was converted to second base.
"- He is the only player in Major League Baseball history with at least 600 doubles, 3,000 hits, 250 homers and 400 steals, whose last name is Biggio. Ok, I made that last part up.
"- In 1997 he became the first player in baseball history not to hit into a single double play while playing an entire 162 game season.
"- Baseball statisticians consider him a lock for the Hall of Fame.

"Here are the players his batting stats most resemble (* indicates Hall of Famer):

1. Robin Yount (850) *
2. Roberto Alomar (824)
3. Joe Morgan (823) *
4. Paul Molitor (795) *
5. Lou Whitaker (783)
6. Ryne Sandberg (774) *
7. Cal Ripken (764) *
8. Brooks Robinson (759) *
9. Charlie Gehringer (757) *
10. Vada Pinson (752)

"Great player, great man. One of the few modern sports stars you could genuinely call a role model."